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By J. S. MAHONKY. 






NEW YORK: 

EXCELSIOR PUBLISHING HOUSE. 



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Charles Stewart Parnell. ' 



Charles Stewart Parnell 



WHAT HE HAS ACHIEVED FOR IRELAND: 



INCLUDING AN EXTENDED BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 

LIFE OF THE IRISH LEADER, AND A HISTORY OF ALL 

THOSE IMPORTANT EVENTS WHICH HAVE DISTIN- 

GUISHED THE LAND AND NATIONAL LEAGUE 

MOVEMENTS AND PROMISE TO RESULT 

IN THE LEGISLATIVE INDEPEND- 

ENCE OF IRELAND. 



7^ 



By J. s. m:apioney. 



NEW YORK: 

Excelsior Publishing House, 

29 and 31 Beekman Street. 







Copyright, 1885, 

BT 

Excelsior Publishing House. 



Engraving on cover is copied by permission of the publisher t,f 
John Devoy's " Land of Eire." 



CONTEiNfTS. 



Chapter I. 

Page 
The Parnells— Ireland in 1846-18r)0 6 

Chapter II. 
Mr. Parnell's Election to Parliament — The Inception and 
Practice of Obstruction — J. G. i»iggar — Isaac Butt as 
a Leader 8 

Chaptek III. 
The Famine in Ireland 15 

Chaptsr IV. 
The Irish Land Question 18 

Chapter V 
The Land League Agitation 23 

Chapter VI. 
The General Election in 1880 — Mr. Parnell's Election to 
the Leadership of the Parliamentary Party — Mr. Shaw 
and his followers Secede - 33 

Chapter VII. 
The Session in Parliament in 1880 — Political Prosecutions 
in Ireland — The Fjght against Coercion in 1881 CO 

Chapter VIII. 
The Land Actof 1881 46 

Chapter IX. 
Gladstone and Parnell 52 

Chapter X. 
The Arrest of Mr Parnell— The No-Rent Manifesto— The 
state of Ireland G3 



IV 

Chapter XL 

Page 
The Kilmainham Treaty — The Phoenix Park Tragedies — 
The Climes and the Ar-rears Acts 68 

Chapter XII. 
The Organization of The Irish National League — The Ar- 
rest of the Inviucibles, and the Carey Revelations 73 

Chapter XIII. 
Forster's Attack upon Mr. Parnell — The Irish Leader's 
Speech in reply 79 

Chapter XIV. 
An Attempt at Description of Mr. Parnell's Qualities as 
a Leader, and the Character and Composition of the 
Land and National League Movements 88 

Chapter XV. 
Irish Legislation in Parliament in 1883 — The Orange Out- 
rages in Ireland — The Progress of the Popular Move- 
ment 95 

Chapter XVI. 
The Franchise Bill, and its effect upon the Irish Elec- 
torate 99 

Chapter XVII. 
The Powers of Dublin Castle in the Government — The 
Dublin Scandals 103 

Chapter XVIII. 
Mr. Gladstone's Foreign Policy — The Prince of Wales* 
Visit to Ireland — The Fall of the Gladstone Govern- 
ment 109 

Chapter XIX. 
The Accession to Power of the Salisbury Government — 
Mr. Parnell wins a Victory 118 

Chapter XX. 
Irish Legislation in the Session of 1885 — The Elevation 
of Dr. Walsh to the Archbishopric of Dublin — Prep- 
arations for the General Election — How they Resulted. 126 

Chapter XXI. 
The Prospect for Home Rule — The Policy of the New 
Irish Party 134 



CHAPTER I. 

THE PAENELLS — IRELAND IN 1846-1850. 

Charles Steavart Parnell was born in Avon- 
dale, in the county of Wicklow, Ireland, in Juno, 
1846. His father was John Htnry Parnell, an Irish 
country gentleman of fortune, and his mother before 
marriage was a Miss Delia Tudor Stewart, a daughter 
of Admiral Charles Stewart of the American navy, 
and a woman of great energy and strength of charac- 
ter, whom John Henry Parnell met and married while 
traveling in America. The Parnells came originally 
of English stock, one of them, Thomas Parnell of 
Congleton, in Cheshire, having settled in Ireland at 
the time of the Restoration. The family is Protestant 
and aristocratic, but it has always been distinguished 
for the liberality of its views both in religion and 
politics. Thomas Parnell of Dublin, who came of a 
branch of the family, attained eminence as a poet 
and divine in the reign of Queen Anne, and later on 
the name became a prominent one in the politics of 
Ireland. The Rt. Hon. Sir Ji.im Parnell, "the in- 
corruptible," waschancellor of the exchequer in Grat- 
tan's Parliament, and was dismissed from that position 
by Loi'd Castlereagh because he refused to vote for 
the Union. His son, Sir Henry Parnell, afterwards 
became a member of the British Parliament, and was 
so high in the esteem and cox:ifidence of O'Connell, 
that that gentleman, in 1814, took the Catholic claims 
away from Grattan and entrusted him with their 
championship. John Hemy Parnell, the father of 
Charles Stewart Parnell, was a nephew of this last 
gentleman. 



6 LIFE AND SERVICES OP 

The condition of Ireland in 1846 was a sad one in 
the extreme. The famine, Avliich had set in the pre- 
[ceding year was making fearful havoc among the peo- 
ple. They were dying by the waysides in hundreds, 
and all measures for relief were inadequate or in- 
operative. Tlie hearts which had erstwhile been 
buoyant with hope and joyous with anticipations of 
prosperity and happiness in the glorious prospect of 
a repeal of the Union, were now subdued and broken 
beneath the weight of an unutterable and an implaca- 
ble woe. The futui-e, which but lately had presented 
to their imaginations the proud picture of a regen- 
erated nationality, was now filled up by the a"v\rful 
figure of Death, raging like a demon throughout the 
land, here smiting down a family by starvation, there 
a district by fever, and everywhere exulting amid 
the cries of the stricken, the groans of the dying, and 
the wail of the hopeless. 

O'Connell and his compatriots did all that it was 
possible for men to do to avert or to relieve the dis- 
tress, but their best efforts were necessarily inconsider- 
able. The glorious career of the great agitator had 
then reached and passed its zenith. There were 
grave dissensions in the wonderful oiganization which 
he had formed, and in which he had wielded such an 
extraordinary influence for many years. He saw that 
thenceforward his power must inevitably decline, and 
his proud spirit felt it keenly ; but mure than all he 
felt the terrible sufferings of his devoted people whom 
he was powerless to succor. Witii tlie agony which 
only a great nature can feel, he realized, almost in a 
breath, the blasting of his aspirations for his country 
and the impending annihilation of his race. 

O'Connell died in a foreign land in May, 1847, of 
a broken heart ; but the famine in Ireland continued 
and the suffering increased with awful rapidity. 
Three hundred thousand pei'sons died of fever and 
famine in 1846, and in 1847 five hundred thousand 
perished, while hundreds of thousands of those who 



CHARLES STEWART PARTSTELL. 7 

could scrape up the necessary means fled from the 
country as though it was accursed, as indeed it was, 
so that at the beginning of 1851 the population had 
fallen aAvay by two millions and a half. 

And during all this time, while the people of Ire- 
land were starving, fleets of ships were sailing with 
every tide carrying Irish cattle and corn to Eng- 
land. 

And in Parliament government was passing Relief 
acts, which didn't relieve ; and Poor laws, thati made 
the poor poorer ; and Labor Rate bills, under which 
the people's money was squandered in unproductive 
schemes ; and altogether the legislation was admira- 
bly adapted — and perhaps intended — not to relieve, 
but to permanently pauperize the country. 

But this was not the only legislation with which 
the government of that time busied itself. English 
statesmen have always professed great faith in the 
virtues of coercion as a remedy for whatever kind of 
ills Ireland might happen to be afflicted with. It is 
a government nostrum which is given her to take, 
whether she likes it or not, whenever she feels indis- 
posed. On this occasion her people were starving for 
want of food, and the remedial measures having 
proved unsuccessful alone, it was thought best to try 
them in conjunction with coercion — coercion before 
and coercion after. The habeas corpus act was sus- 
pended ; the treason-felony act became a law ; the 
Nationalist press was proclaimed ; the Irish Confed- 
erates were disbanded ; the gentry were corrupted or 
frightened half to death, and the people wei-e in 
despair. 

And now took place that forlorn hope in which 
O'Brien, Dillon, Meagher, McManus, O'Donohoe 
and others engaged. It was the last desperate pro- 
test of a gallant people against an unjust and tyran- 
nical system of government — and it failed. It was 
shortly followed by the trials at Clonmel for " high 
treason," the result being that the prisoners were all 



8 LIFE AND SERVICES OP 

convicted and sentenced to death, but the sentences 
were afterwards commuted to transportation for life. 

In the meanwhile large bodies of police and mili- 
tary were kept busily employed in town and country 
ejecting the poor wretches who could not pay their 
rents ; and in pulling down houses in the search for 
hidden weapons ; and in putting in execution laws 
which were cunningly devised to clear the land of 
Ireland of the native occupiers. 

The country was never so deeply steeped in poverty 
and misery, and if its conquest was not consummated 
then it never will be consummated. The popular 
leaders were all in prison or in exile ; the poorhouses 
were filled to overflowing, and the dispirited people 
were either lying down by the roadsides to die, or 
crowding into emigrant ships to seek more favorable 
lands to labor in. And the passage of the years up 
to 1851 brought no improvement. The state of 
things went from bad to worse, and the London 
limes was enabled to boast — only too truthfully — 
"Now for the first time in 600 years England has 
Ireland at her mercy, and can do with her as she 
pleases." 



CHAPTER II. 

ME. TAENELL's ELECTIOlSr TO PARLIAMENT THE INCEP- 
TION AND PRACTICE OF OBSTRUCTION — J. G. BIG- 
GAR ISAAC BUTT AS A LEADER. 

Such was the condition of Ireland during th(; 
earlier years of the future Irish leader, and, although 
his family's position and means were such as to place 
him personally above want, he could not but be im- 
pressed — child though he was — with the painful 
events occurring and the misery existing everywhere 
around him in Ireland. 



CHARLES STEWAKT TARNELL. 9 

As a boy Mr. Parnell was quiet, thoughtful and 
studious, his schooldays being spent mostly in Eng- 
land and marked by no event worthy of note. At 
18 he entered Cambridge University, and remained 
there two years, when he left, without graduating, and 
made a tour of America, in company with an older 
brother, John II. Parnell, who is now a citizen of and 
one of the richest peach-growers in Georgia. 

On his return to Ireland, Mi'. Parnell settled down 
on his estate in Wicklow to the quiet life of an Irish 
country gentleman, but he emerged from that seclu- 
sion in 1874 to contest one of the seats for Dublin 
county in the Home Rule interest. It is worthy of 
remark that in his address to the voters of this con- 
stituency, which may be taken as his first public 
utterance or enunciation of principles, he emphatically 
pledged himself to "by all means seek the restor- 
ation to Ireland of our domestic Parliament." In the 
election which followed, Mr. Parnell was badly 
beaten, and he retired from the contest without hav- 
ing given any signs of the possession of more than 
mediocre abilities. 

His next appearance in public was in the press in 
1875. Early in that year a vacancy occurred in Tip- 
perary, and John Mitchel, of '"48" fame, went over 
from America to stand for the county. Mr. Parnell 
applauded Mitchel's intention and wrote a letter to 
the newspapers expressing approbation of his course. 
He also subscribed £25 toward the expenses of the 
contest. Mitchel was elected by an immense ma- 
jority, but he died almost immediately, and within 
a week he was followed to the grave by John Martin, 
his brother-in-law and fellow rebel, the member for 
Mealh. 

This left two vacancies in the Home Rule party 
and Mr. Butt invited Mr. Parnell to stand for that 
in Meath. He did so, and was elected on the 19th 
of April, 1875. On the 22d of that month he made 
liis appearance in the House of Commons, and that 



10 LIFE AND SERVICES OP 

night listened to one of Mr. J. G. Biggar's four hour 
speeches against cocercion. Mr. Parnell's first speech 
in Parliament was also made on this occasion and is 
said to have been couched in most vehement language, 
and delivered in a shrill, strained voice. He early 
took his stand beside Mr. Biggar, who, if not the 
father, may at least be termed the most vigorous ex- 
pounder and practiser of obstruction, and loyally 
co-operated in the inauguration of what has since 
come to be known as the " active" policy. 

Mr. Biggar enjoys the distinction of having brought 
Mr. Parneli out, as the saying is, and is a character 
deserving of more than passing mention because of 
that fact and on account of the great and unselfish 
labors which he has performed in behalf of Ireland. 
Joseph G. Biggar was boin in Belfast, August 1, 1828, 
and received his education — such as it was — in the 
Academy in that city. In his 17th year he went into 
the ofiice of his father, who was in the provision trade, 
where he worked as assistant until 1861, when he 
succeeded to the business ; and in 1880, having 
amassed an ample competency, he was enabled to 
retire. His family were staunch Ulster Presbyte- 
rians, but Mr. Biggar became a convert to the Catho- 
lic Church in 1877. He was first elected to Parlia- 
ment as a Home Ruler from county Cavan in 1874, 
and was re-elected by the same constituency in 1880. 
As a speaker he has not a single advantage either of 
voice or gesture, but he can put his ideas into goo). 
language, and he has a clear head and plenty ofsoun<l 
common sense with a grim, quaint humor that often 
sets the House in a roar. To the insults of the anti- 
Nationalist press — which have been showered upon 
him in abundance — and the taunts of opposition in 
debate, Mr. Biggar is perfectly indifferent, and he 
goes on his way as calmly as if he did not know 
of or hear them. As an Irishman he is ardently and 
intensely patriotic, and he is animated by a fierce and 
inveterate hate of English rule in Ireland, and an 



/ i 



CIIA.RLES STEWART PARNELL. 11 

unsleeping and relentless purpose to make tilings 
as disagreeable for tlie rulers as they can be made. 
He is greatly devoted to the other members of the 
Irish party and his patient, plodding, enduring ex- 
ample has inspired many of them with his own Kpiiit, 
He is absolutely devoid of jealousy and will not only 
take a back seat for the youngest in his party, but he 
"will do all in his power to push the youngster ahead 
of himself. In private life his character is marked 
by many honest, sterling and admirable qualities. 
His disposition is kindly, genial, simple ; his smile is 
bright and winning and he is a universal favorite 
with children. 

Such was tbe man who undertook to tutor Mr. 
Parnell on his entrance into political life and both 
master and pupil soon attained prominence in the 
Home Rule party. This party had been returned to 
Parliament at the general elections of 1874 with a 
nominal membership of more than 60, but many of 
the men so returned could not be depended upon. 
Some of the members had done faithful service in the 
cause of Ireland, but there were not a few others — 
expectant lawyers and worn-out office-seekers — who 
had taken up the cry of " Home Rule " from selfish 
motives, and who, having been borne into office on 
the popular wave, now snapped their fingers at their 
constituencies, ignored or neglected the duties devolv- 
ing upon them, and intrigued only to secure their 
own advancement in the good graces of the govern- 
ment. And the government was not slow to hold out 
bait for them to catch at. 

The Irish leader at this time was Isaac Butt, a 
most sincere, excellent and able man, but one hardly 
fitted either by training or temperament for the 
trying position of leader of an independent party in 
the House of Commons. In his earlier years he had 
been the champion of the Protestant ascendency in 
Dublin municipal affairs and was a vigorous opponent 
of O'Connell in the struggle for Repeal, but as he 



12 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

grew older his opinions underwent a decided change. 
He defended the prisoners in the celebrated Fenian 
trials and later he became a sincere and earnest advo- 
cate of self-government for Ireland. He was a man 
of brilliant and powerful intellect, and was possessed 
as an orator and as a debater of very superior gifts, 
but it may be questioned whether he had to any con- 
siderable degree the special qualities which are needed 
in a leader of men. He was ' irritable and hasty in 
temper and was given to magnifying trifling differ- 
ences of opinion into factious and flagrant acts of 
opposition, to such a degree as made it hard for men 
of independence and spirit to get along with him. And 
these faults grew upon him with years. Referring 
to this side of Mr. Butt's character, Justin McCar- 
thy, writing in the London Times^iov June, 18*79, said: 
*'It might have been possible to find a man of far in- 
ferior gifts as a debater who could have led the party 
better. It was surely a mistake in the practical art 
of leadership when Mr. Butt publicly denounced in 
the face of the House of Commons the action of cer- 
tain of the more extreme among his followers. A 
leader has, in truth, to put up with a good deal of 
independent, or even eccentric, action on the part of 
some of his followers now and then, and so long as 
they are loyal to him on the one question which is the 
cause and the purpo>e of the party, he does wisely by 
letting them have a good deal of their own way." 

The mistake alluded to by Mr. McCarthy was 
made during the debate on the South African bill 
in the House of Commons in the session of 18 77. 
Messrs. Biggar and Parnell had been seizing every 
opportunity that offered to put their obstructive tic- 
tics into practice, and in the long sitting on this ])ill 
they had given a free rein to the new policy. The 
result was many scenes of excitement and passion, 
and an open rupture between Mr. Butt and the 
structionists. The veteran chief of the Home Rul^[ 
did not regard the new tactics with favor and he giq 



CHARLES STEWART PAENELL. 13 

expression to his displeasure in a very severe speech. 
But he did not confine himself to this, for outside as 
■well as inside the House, he made speeches and wrote 
letters denouncing th.e new policy in the most vigor- 
ous language at his command. " Either obstruction 
will put down the House of Commons," he used to 
say, "or the House of Commons will put down ob- 
struction," and it was evidently his opinion that the 
latter result would be the case. 

But the Irish leader was even then bending under 
the influence of painful disease and approaching 
death, and if Biggar and Parnell lost in his good 
opinion, they more than made up for it by the rapid- 
ity with which they grew in popular favor. The 
Irish people were in earnest in their struggle, and if 
England would not accede to their reasonable de- 
mands, they gladly gave their support to the men 
who made all possible trouble for her, and practically 
paralyzed legislation in her Parliament by their ob- 
structive methods. When the Home Rule Confede- 
ration of Great Britain met in Liverpool in the au- 
tumn of that year, the Irishmen of England showed 
their approbation of the course of the obstructionists 
by electing Charles Stewart Parnell to the Presidency 
of that body in place of Isaac Butt. 

This act strengthened the obstructionists immeas- 
urably. Almost alone, theretofore, they had pursued 
their peculiar policy, but their earnestness and per- 
sistency now began to attract recruits to their flag, 
and the obstructionists developed into an important 
and somewhat independent section of the Home Rule 
party. At first Mr. Biggar had been the leader, but 
Mr. Parnell's greater activity and ability soon brought 
him to the front and Mr. Biggar, with that unselfish- 
ness characteristic of him, was content to fall into 
line as an enthusiastic and loyal follower. The little 
party were hated by the English members of all 
parties and were ostracized and contemned by the 
moiie influential in their own party, but they held to 



14 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

their policy with unabated confidence in its efficacy as 
an irritant, if not as a remedy. 

The sessions of 1878 and 18Y9 were marked by 
similar scenes to those which characterized that of 
1877, only that obstruction was, if anything:, practiced 
upon a much larger, bolder and more adroit scale. 
By the latter year, Mr. Butt had lost greatly in the 
public good will and was practically retired from poli- 
tics, while Mr. Paraell had risen to the position of a 
popular idol. 

The people with unerring instinct had discovered 
that the younger man possessed in a larger degree 
the qualities that go to make a great and a bold leader, 
and they helped to push him to the front. The dele- 
gates of the British Home Rule League, at a con- 
vention held in Dublin in 1878, avowedly for the pur- 
pose of influencing Irish opinion, renewed their con- 
fidence in Mr, Parnell by again electing him to the 
presidency, and at a great public meeting in the Ro- 
tundo in Dublin, in the same year, Mr. Parnell and 
Mr. Biggar were enthu>iastically indorsed. 

On the 6th of May, 1879, Mr. Butt died, and his 
death was widely and sincerely mourned by the Irish 
people as that of an honest, amipright and a patriotic 
man. The leadership of the parliamentary party now 
should have gone to Mr. Parnell, but many of the 
members thought that he was too young and too rash 
to occupy such a position ; and then again, it was 
said that by some kind of unsettled right of succes- 
sion, the leadership devolved upon Mr. William Shaw, 
the member for Cork county, a most excellent and 
respectable gentleman, and one who, wliile not par- 
ticipating in the work of obstruction was thought to 
be cordially friendly to Mr. Parnell. Ho was, there- 
fore, entiusted with the duties and the resj^onsibilities 
of the position. But his leadership was destined to 
bo a bri.i one, and Mr. Parnell's star was rising. 



CUAELES STEWAKT PARNELL. 15 



CHAPTER III. 

THE FAMINE IN IRELAND. 

Shortly after Mr. Shaw's accession to the leader- 
ship of the Home Rule party forebodings began to 
be heard of an approaching famine in Ireland. The 
crops for the season of 1879 and the two preceding 
seasons had been bad, and it was feared that a period 
of suffering similar to that of 1845-1848 was about to 
ensue. The people of the counties of Mayo, Galway, 
Donegal and other portions of the counties of Sligo, 
Clare, Kerry and Cork were especially threatened, 
and it soon became evident that unless some immedi- 
ate action was taken great distress was inevitable. 

That the famine was not an exaggeration of the 
fancy, nor a bugbear created by designing politicians 
to excite the people and help the organization of the 
land movement is amply proved by the government 
record of the vital statistics of Ireland for 1879. 
From a perusal of this document it appears that the 
number of deaths in this year was 105,432, being the 
highest recorded in any year since registration was 
established in 1864. The average mortality for the 
preceding decade was 93,881, and it must be borne in 
mind that by 1879 the population of Ireland had 
fallen off more than 200,000 from the census of 187 K 
yet the year's record Avas 12,000 above the average. 
Add to this that the number of persons who died of 
contagious diseases was far below the average, and, 
making all allowance for the deaths caused by coll 
in the early months, the fact remains that thousands 
of persons actually died of want in that year ; and 
had it not been for the Land League the mortality in 
1879 and the years immediately subsequent would 
have been appallingly large. As it was, the year was 
far more calamitous for Ireland than is generally 
known. The destitution was great and widespread, 
especially among the poorer farmers and the laboring 



16 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

classes. The emigration was greater by 8,000 than 
in 1878 ; and, notwithstanding the deep aversion 
which the Irish people have for the workhouse, the 
inmates of these institutions were increased by 7,000 
in the winter of 1879-80 as compared with the pre- 
vious winter, and 6,000 more persons received out- 
door relief. But these are only the open evidences 
of misery ; there are no means at hand for calculat- 
ing the number of people who suffered in silence. 
The only thing that is certain is that a terrible dis- 
aster to the country was in great measure averted by 
the prompt and energetic action of the people them- 
selves. 

The immense falling off in the crops during the 
years 1877, 1878 and 1879 is shown by the following, 
which is taken from Eason's Almanac for 1881: 

" The Registrar- General's Annual Returns to the 
Lord Lieutenant, on the Statistics of Ireland, for the 
years 1877, 1878 and 1879, are trustworthy, and their 
collection by the Constabulary for a long series of 
years has fully established them in the confidence of 
those who consult them. 

"The year 1877 was reported upon in August, 
1878. Universal testimony from all four Provinces 
spoke of the year as very wet ; the crops of oats and 
especially potatoes were inferior, and although hay 
was plentiful, it was badly saved and poor in quality. 

" The year 1878 was reported upon in May, 187*9, 
and general testimony spoke of the inferior character 
of the potato crop, and the prevalence of disease. In 
some districts there had been too much wet, and 
especially in the counties of Cork, Kerry, Limerick 
and variously in portions of other counties. There 
was a good deal of jDOtato blight. 

" The year 1879 was reported upon in February, 
1880, and it stated the relative food supplies in the 
following manner : ' It is quite clear that food sup- 
plies produced in Ireland during the year 1879, must, 
so far as cereal and green crops are concerned, be 



CHARLES STEAVART PARNELL. 17 

considerably under the average. In the cereal and 
potato crops there is an immense deficiency, not only 
in the amount planted but in the yield, the result rel- 
atively to the population being, that for the whole of 
Ireland, the quantity per head of the produce of cereal 
crops is only 3.8 cwts., as compared with an average 
for the ten years 1869-78 of 4.9 cwts., and against 4.7 
cwts. for 1878. In potatoes the deficiency is propor- 
tionally greater. The annual average amount of 
potatoes per head produced in Ireland during the 
past ten years was 11.2 cwts., while in 1879 it Avas 
only 4.1, or about one-third. The amount per head 
in 1878 was 9.3 cwts., or more than double that of 
the present year. The amount of potatoes planted 
was less by 4,041 acres than in 1878. The salient 
point, however, is that in 1878 the estimated produce 
of potatoes in Ireland was 50,530,080 cwts., the aver- 
age for ten years being 60,752,918 cwts., whereas the 
estimated yield for 1879 is only 22,273,520 cwts., a 
most alarro.ing decrease. The potato crop will be de- 
ficient in every province, county and union. The 
total yield for Ireland is estimated at 26.4 cwts. per 
acre, against an average of 64.4 cwts. per acre for the 
preceding ten years.' " 

So terrible were the portents for the winter of 
1879-80 that people shuddered to think of the suf- 
ferings it would bring forth, and the Irish Liberal 
and Home Rule members of Parliament thought it 
their duty to unite in a declaration to Earl Beacons- 
field bringing the deplorable state of Ireland to his 
notice, anil ui'ging that a special session of Parliament 
be called to take action in the emergency. 

Parliament was summoned to meet early that win- 
ter, but government did little or nothing for the re- 
lief of Ireland. The Queen's speech, indeed, made a 
meagre and unsatisfactory reference to the state of 
affairs there, and Lord Beaconsfield in the House of 
Lords improved the occasion to make a savage attack 
upoi) the Liberals, Avhom he accused of sympathy 



18 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

with sedition in Ireland. He denounced the abettors 
of Home Rule, too, in unmeasured terms as traitors 
to their sovereign and to their country. The Duke 
of Argyll retorted with an attack upon the entire 
policy of the Tory government and attributed the 
success of obstruction to what he called the govern- 
ment's pusillanimous attitude. 

A similar word fight took place in the House of 
Commons between the Marquis of Hartington and 
Sir Stafford Northcote, and thus both parties took 
advantage of the misery existing in Ireland to make 
pulitical capital for their respective sides, the famine, 
meanwhile, being allowed to go on. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE IRISU LAND QUESTION. 



The cause of these famines which periodically af- 
flict Ireland — or, at any rate, of the suffering which 
accompanies them — is to be ascribed principally to 
the system of land tenure introduced into the country 
at the time of the conquest. This system h%,s con- 
tinued for ages to weigh down the Irish farmer-^and 
through him the laborer — with a severity that in- 
creases with the passage of years and leaves him 
without resource upon the least failure of his crop. 

The great majority of the people of Ireland are de- 
pendent upon agriculture for a livelihood, and the 
revenue from that branch of industry is two-thirds 
of the revenue of the country. This being the case 
it is obvious that the conditions Essential to prosperity 
are either a very general ownership by the tillers of 
the soil themselves, or a fair and equitable tenfincy 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 19 

system. But tlie conditions existing in 1879 in 
Ireland were that the total area of Ireland was 20,159,- 
678 acres. Of this — 

452 persons own each more than 5,000 acres. 

135 persons own each more than 10,000 acres. 

90 persons own each more than 20,000 acres. 

14 jjei'sons own each more than 50,000 acres. 

3 persons own each more than 100,000 acres. 

1 person owns 170,119 acres. 

292 personshold 6,458,100 acres, or abo;it one-third 
of the island. 

744 persons hold 9,612,728 acres, or about one- 
half of tlie island. 

In Ireland the twelve largest owners hold in the 
aggregate 1,297,888 acres ; and their respective acre- 
ages are 170,119, 156,974, 121,353,118,607,114,881, 
101,030,95,008, 94,551, 93,629, 86,321, 72,915, and 
69,501. 

Two-thirds of the whole of Ireland are held by only 
1,942 persons. 

There was no peasant proprietor class in the coun- 
try. The farmers almost all held as tenants, and of 
the 600,000 tenant farmers, more than 500,000, repre- 
senting with their families about 3,000,000 persons, 
were merely tenants-at-will, who had no securiiy in 
their homes. This tenancy-at-will has been described 
by Lord Dufferin thus : 

" What is the spectacle presented to us by Ireland ? 
It is that of millions of persons, whose only depend- 
ence and whose chief occupation is agriculture, for 
the most part cultivating their lands; that is, sinking 
their past, their present and their future upon yearly 
tenancies. What is a yearly tenancy ? Why, it is 
an impossible tenure ; a tenure which, if its terms 
were to be literally interpreted (and its terms are 
literally interpreted in Ireland), no Christian man 
would offer, and none but a madman would accept." 

But, madmen or not, this "impossible tenure " was 
the one that the great majority of the Irish farmers 



20 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

were compelled to accept, and, as a consequence, they 
were at the absolute mercy of the landlords, who 
could raise rents wlienover they saw fit, and the 
tenants either had to pay the advance or get off of 
tlie land. These tenant-farmers, with their families, 
numbered, as I have said, about 3,000,000 persons, 
but, as agriculture was the main source of the country's 
wealth, the commercial and trading community were 
dependent upon the industry of the farmers, and it 
follows, therefore, that the fate and fortunes of nearly 
five millions of persons were at the mercy of the land- 
lords, who, at the most numbered not more than a 
few thousand. 

Many of these landlords were great nobles and other 
rich men who lived in England on the income from 
their Irish estates, which were managed by agents 
whose interest it was to squeeze all they could out of 
the tenants, and the land was not only compelled to 
pay the landlords and the agents, but it was compelled 
to pay the solicitor and tlie bailiffs as well. What 
was left, if anything, was for the tenant. 

This landlord system was the great social bane of 
the country. A single class, and that numerically 
not a large one, kept the nation steeped in indescrib- 
able misery by exacting rents for their lands enor- 
mously in excess of their real value. In numerous 
instances these rents nearly equaled the whole value 
of the produce of the land, and it was consequently 
all but impossible for the tenants to pay them. 
Should the tenant improve his farm the landlord made 
that a reason why he should pay more rent and he was 
never remunerated for his improvements, no matter 
how permanent in character these might be. It will 
bi} seen, therefore, that no incentive to industry ex- 
isted and a premium was put upon sloth and indolence, 
for the higher the degree of cultivation to M'hich a 
farmer brought his farm the more he had to pay for 
it. Under this system the whole nation was con- 
stantly ground down and its people were kept con- 



CHARLES STEWART I'ARNELL. 21 

tinually on the very verge of starvation. The 
smallest unfavorable change in the seasons, therefore, 
or the slightest failure in the potato crop, entailed 
wholesale suffering and premature deaths. The land- 
lords were further armed with the arbitrary and ir- 
responsible power of evicting the tenantry at their 
pleasure and upon any scale, and they exercised that 
power in every part of the kingdom in the most merci- 
less fashion. 

The Irish people knew the cause of their sufferings 
and their impoverishment, and their leading men bad 
often striven to effect a change in the land laws, but 
to no purpose. *' If they ask me what are my propo- 
sitions for the relief of distress," said O'Connell, in 
1846, " I answer, first, tenant-right. I would propose 
a law giving to every man his own. I would give 
the landlord his land and a fair rent for it ; but I 
would give the tenant compensation for every shill- 
ing he might have laid out on the land in permanent 
improvements." The same proposition has been made 
by other leaders since and — until recently — ineffectu- 
ally. The nation progressed only toward ruin and 
decay. The lands that should have been used to sup- 
port the life and promote the prosjDcrity of the people 
were being turned into sheep walks and cattle pastures, 
until out of 20,000,000 acres of arable land, only 
3,000,000 were under cultivation. Then accordingly 
as the rents decreased in the aggregate, the landlords, 
in order to keep up their state and have something to 
spend in debauchery abroad, had to increase the rents 
per acre until they became so exorbitant that it was 
simply impossible for the tenants to meet them, and 
have anything left for the support of their families. 

The necessity for a reform of the land system had 
been urged upon Parliament again and again, but 
without avail until 1870, when Mr. Gladstone brought 
in his Bill to Amend tho Law of Landlord and Tenant 
in Ireland ; but though this bill was at the time con- 
sidered a bold and even revolutionary measure, it fell 



22 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

far short of the needs of the occasion, and, indeed, 
not only failed to do any great good, but did con- 
siderable harm. It has been shown since that the 
number of evictions after the passage of the bill was 
greater than in the years preceding it. In the three 
years before its passage the ejectments on notices to 
quit numbered 4,253 ; in the three subsequent years 
the number reached 5,fi41, showing an increase of 
1,388. In the next three years they numbered 8,439. 
And these figures represent only the capricious evic- 
tions ; they do not include ejectments for non-pay- 
ment of rent or non-title. Mr. Gladstone's bill of 1870 
was a concession, but it left the tenants about as badly 
off as they were before. ' 

And this is the great trouble with all the Irish 
remedial measures which pass the British Parliament. 
They are never anything but half hearted conces- 
sions. They are never full or complete, and are of 
necessity imjjotent in bringing about the reforms 
which they are passed to effect ; but English states- 
men seem to be constitutionally incapacitated to ap- 
preciate this. If their bills contain any instalment 
of justice, no matter how minute, they laud the 
measures to the skies and soundly berate the Irish 
if they do not accept them on the government's 
recommendation as redress in full for the grievances 
of centuries. The eleven Ir!sh members who op- 
posed the bill of 1870 because it was not broad 
enough in its scope to confer any lasting benefitsu[jon 
the Irish people, told Mr. Gladstone that instead of 
settling the question he was only putting it off for a 
few years, and they were roundly denounced as un- 
gratef uL ]?Ir. Gladstone liimself, however, lias since 
come to be of their opinion. 

Tliese Irish members knew that the bone which 
the government threw to the Irish farmers in 1870 
would not eatisfy them, and Mr. Gladstone and those 
who believed it Avould, were soon undeceived. In 
the years from 1871 to 1880, no less than 23 bills 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 23 

affecting the rights of property and occupation in 
land in Ireland were placed before the British Par- 
liament, but only to be rejected, dropped or with- 
drawn. A day of reckoning had to come, however, 
and the more it was delayed the more desperate 
would grow the demands of the oppressed. So it 
was that when the awfully bad season of 1879 came 
upon the tenant farmers of Ireland, blighting their 
crops and destroying their hopes, the people, stung 
by hunger and the desperation of their situation, rose 
en masse in an attempt to shake off the chains which 
weighted them down. 



CHAPTER y. 

THE LAND LEAGUE AGITATION. 

In April, ]879, a meeting of tenant farmers was 
held at Irish town, in Mayo, at whicli they rehearsed 
their grievances and passed resolutions demanding 
an abatement of rents. Similar meetings followed in 
other parts of the same county, and, in a very short 
time, the movement had spread all over the west of 
Ireland. Mr. Parnell, Michael Davitt, John Dillon, 
Thomas Sexton, Thomas Brennan, Andrew Kettle 
and others took an active part in all these meetings 
and their teachings prepared the way for the Land 
League. 

In July a vacancy occurred in the parliamentary 
party for Ennis, and Mr. Parnell, determining to put 
up a candidate for that borough who could be relied 
upon to support the " active " section of the party, 
nominated Mr. Lysaght Finigan. Mr. Shaw sup- 
ported the present Judge O'Brien, and to make the 
contest more interesting a Conservative actively com- 
peted for the suffrages of the people. Mr. Finigan's 
candidacy was at first considered hopeless, but Mr. 
Parnell, Mr. Finigan himself and Mr. T. D. Sullivan 



24 LIFE AND SERVICES OP 

worked night and day and the result was that Mr. 
Finigan was elected by six votes. This was regarded 
as a great victory for Mr. Parnell, and it had the 
more weight as showing the temper of the people 
with respect to their representatives and foreshadow- 
ing the result of the general elections which were 
known to be near at hand. 

The farmei's of the West, meanwhile, were calling 
loudly upon the landlords for reductions in rents, but 
the landlords paid no attention to the demands, and 
at last the people determined to take the matter into 
tiieir own hands and to compel redress at all hazards. 
Michael Davitt's scheme for the organization of a 
Land League was nov/ taken up with enthusiasm and 
at a great meeting called in Dublin, in October, the 
Land League was formally organized with Mr. Par- 
nell as president ; Mr. Davitt, as organizer ; Patrick 
Egan, treasurer, and Thomas Brennan, secretary. 
Endurance among the people had reached its limits, 
and now, instead of being satisfied with an abatement 
in rents, they demanded the complete and final abo- 
lition of landlordif-m in Ireland. The programme of 
the League declared its purpose to be the liberation 
of the peasant from landlord power by obtaining for 
him, through constitutional action, the ownership of 
the land he cultivated with the tender of fair compen- 
sation to the landlord for the extinction of his interest. 
« England in 1833 "—to quote Mr. T, M. Healy— "had 
paid £20,000,000 to free the West Indian slaves. She 
was at that moment spending a sum as great in inglo- 
rious wars in Afghanistan and Zululand. Was it too 
much, therefore, to hope that she would now consent 
to buy out the Irish slave, who, unlike the West In- 
dian, would work to pay back every penny laid out 
on the purchase of his freedom ? " 

The people responded to the call for united action 
with hearty and unanimous enthusiasm. The time 
was ripe for the movement and the gi*eedy and cruel 
exactions of the landlords at a time when famine was 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 25 

again threatening to overwhelm the country with 
misery spurred on its growth. Nearly all the Iriih 
organizations existing at the time, recognized the 
strength of the new movement and amalgamated with 
it, and its branches spread throughout the country 
with amazing rapidity, until it developed into the 
greatest movement in Irish history. 

The aims of the Land League were not, perhaps, 
so exaltedly patriotic as those of previous movements 
in L'eland. They were not at all sentimental — on the 
contrary they were almost un-Irish in their cold, 
practical selfishness ; but therein lay the strength of 
the movement. All ihe long centuries since the con- 
quest are marked by the struggles of L'ishmen 
actuated by patriotic sentiment, and, though the love 
of country and the holy fire of patriotism still burned 
as ardently as ever in every Irish breast, numerous 
failures and the sacrifices which participation in those 
failures had involved, of necessity tended to depress 
and dishearten the people, and some extraordinary in- 
citement was necessary to arouse them to enthusiasm 
and weld them into unity. This incitement the Land 
League furnished. It appealed to the generosity of 
the whole Iiish race to make one supreme effort to 
save a majority of that race in Ireland from the rapac- 
ity of the landlord class ; and it not only appealed to 
the manhood and the common sense of the Irish 
farmer himself, but it appealed to his pocket as well, 
for it told him that he was justified in refusing to pay 
extortionate rents, and in keeping enough of the bad 
harvest to support himself and his family, even if the 
landlord had to go without any. It did more, for it 
told the farmers that if they would unite rack-renting 
would be abolished, landlordism would be extirpated 
from tlie soil, and the tenants would be made pro- 
prietors. 

It has been charged against the Land League that 
the princijilcs which it proposed were impracticable, 
unsound and immoral, but the fallacy of the charges 



20 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

have since been thoroughly demonstrated. The Land 
Act itself is an admission of their practicability and 
Mr. Gladstone, in a speech at West Calder, in Novem- 
ber, 1879, has borne testimony to the justice of the 
Land League principle of expropriation of landlords 
in the following words : " I freely own that compul- 
sory expropriation is a thing which is admissible, and 
even sound in principle." To the charge that it was 
dishonest to refuse to pay rent, the Irish people re- 
torted by quoting from the works of eminent English 
political economists, such as Herbert Spencer, who 
says in his Social Statics, chap. IX., sec. 2 : " Equity 
does not permit property in land," etc., and Professor 
Bonamy Price, who, ^vriting in the Contemporary 
Heview, in December, 1879, said : "It is not the land- 
lord, but the tenant, who shall in the last resort deter- 
mine what the rent shall be." And in the same lie- 
view in the following August, Professor Price said 
" Kent is surplus profit reaped by farming, after every 
expense has been paid, which is in excess of what 
will satisfy the tenant as an adequate reward for en- 
tering on the business of farming — which will enable 
him to get a proper living out of the business. Rent 
does not come to the fore till after all the preceding 
stages of the calculation shall have been completed. 
The final point is the spot where the line of profit is 
cut ; and it is the will of the farmer at last, not the 
will of the landlord, which fixes that point of inter- 
section." 

At a meeting in Westport, county Mayo, Mr. Par- 
nell had advised the farmers to " keep a firm grip on 
your homesteads," and this cry, with that of " the 
land for the people," "reform of the land laws," "the 
three F's," and others, were taken up and shouted 
from hundreds of monster meetings all over the island. 
The national question seemed to be relegated to the 
background and the land question was the question of 
the day. 

But it would be unjust to the people and to their 



CHARLES STEWART PARNKLL. 27 

leaders to admit that the relegation of the national 
question was real, for it was not. All the leaders 
were zealous advocates of Ireland's nationality, and 
though that question was not given prominence in 
the land movement, it was undoubtedly underlying 
it, and quietly permeating its every part. Mr. Par- 
nell said as much afterwards at Dublin in the words, 
"I would never have taken off my coat and gone to 
work in this land movement, had I not known that 
we were laying the foundation for the legislative in- 
dependence of Ireland," and there can be no doubt 
but what all his associates in the League were 
actuated by the same spirit. 

Next to Mr. Parnell, the most popular man in 
Ireland at this time and the hardest worker in the 
land movement was Michael Davitt, "the father of 
the Land League," as he was called, a young man 
possessing in his composition all the elements of a 
great hero — character, self-assertive and self-reliant ; 
eloquence, simple, straighforward, passionate ; un- 
selfishness, that thinks no suffering too great when 
endured for country ; devotion to principle, fixed and 
inflexible ; a courage that no terrors can daunt, and 
a spirit that no hardship or cruelty can subdue — yet, 
withal, a quiet, thoughtful, studious, delicately 
framed man, who in a happier country would have 
been a scholar and a philosopher. He was born near 
Straide, in Mayo, in 1846, and is, therefore, of the 
same age as Mr. Parnell. His father was a tenant 
farmer and while Michael was still very young the 
family became victims of the " Crowbar brigade " 
who evicted them and pulled down their modest 
home. Mr. Davitt and family then took passage for 
America to seek the means of livelihood denied them 
in their native land, but young Michael did not stay 
here very long, "While still a youth he left America 
and went to England where he obtained work in a 
cotton mill at Rochdale. In this employment he lost 
his right arm by getting it caught in the machinery. 



28 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

but upon learning to write with his left hand his em- 
ployej's promoted him to a clerkship. His national 
feeling was always strong and when the Fenian move- 
ment started Davitt was one of its most enthusiastic 
supporters. He became a member in 1865 and was 
selected by the directory to purchase arms and war 
material in preparation for the expected rising. He 
was arrested while supplying arms to Fenians in Lon- 
don and upon conviction was sentenced to fifteen 
years penal servitude. During his iraisrisonment in 
Portland prison he was subjected to great cruelty and 
after having served seven years he was released on a 
ticket-of-leave. On regaining his liberty he worked 
on the London committee for procuring the release of 
the other prisoners, and while so employed his capacity 
attracted the attention of the Home Rule leaders and 
he was soon engaged in behalf of that movement. He 
visited the United States in 1878 to see his sister and 
other relatives who live in Pennsylvania and while 
here he delivered several lectures in aid of a former 
Fenian comrade named Wilson. He had given the 
land question in Ireland much study and upon his re- 
turn to that country he entered vigorously into the 
organization of the land movement. On Nov. 19, 
1879, he was arrested for using seditious language, 
but the case against him was not pushed. He came 
to this country again in May, 1880, and stayed several 
months organizing the Land League here. He re- 
turned to Ireland in October and a short time later he 
was again arrested, but this time the jury acquitted 
him. He was arrested for the third time during this 
movement in 1881 and was declared to have forfeited 
his ticket-of-leave. He was released, however, after 
the Kilmainhani treaty in 1882. In June, 1882, ^ 
again visited America, but he only remained a 
days when he returned to Ireland. Since that 1 
he has been actively engaged lecturing on the 
question in Ireland and England. 

Mr. Davitt has made a hobby of the nationalizi 



CHA.RLES STEWART PAENELL. 29 

of the land, and it was at one time feared that he would 
come to a rupture with Mr. Parnell over the subject, 
tlie latter being opposed to it, but the fears were, 
fortunately, unfounded, Mr. Davitt being too sincerely 
patriotic to push even his pet scheme at the risk of 
injury to the Irish cause. Mr. Davitt would not ac- 
cept of a position in Parliament, which has been often 
tendered him, nor would he take any money tribut-' 
from the people which it has been more than ou'j. 
proposed to give him in recognition of his labors i u 
the popular cause. He prefers to remain a free lance, 
unhampered either by authority or obligations. Mr. 
Davitt was never married. 

Among the other men who were active in the or- 
ganization of the Land League, and to whose efforts 
the success of the movement is in great measure due 
were John Dillon, Thomas Brennan, Patrick Egan, 
Thomas Sexton, T. D. Sullivan, T. P. O'Connor, M- 
M. O'Sullivan, John W. Nally, Jas. O'Kelly, Matthew 
Harris, P. J. Sheridan and others. 

Ml'. Dillon is a son of the gallant Young Ireland 
chief, John B. Dillon, and is, like his father, a man of 
great courage and ability. He came to America with 
Mr. Parnell in 1880, and did good work in organizing 
the American Land League. While still in America 
he was elected to Parliament for Tipperary. He was 
twice arrested in Ireland in 1881 for his utterances on 
the land question, and after his release in 1882 he was 
compelled, through ill health, to resign his seat. He 
then came to America and settled in Colorado, but he 
went back to Ireland a few months ago, and in the 
recent elections was elected as member for Mayo. 

Mr. Brennan, the secretary of the Land League, is 
the son of a Meath farmer, and a young man of 
superior gifts as a poj^ular speaker. He is now, and 
has been for two years a resident of America. 

Patrick Egan, the League's treasurer, was a miller 
of Dublin and was prominent in commercial circles in 
that city. He is a man of sterling integi'ity and the 



30 LIFE A?iD SERVICES OF 

most intense national feeling. In 1881 he was compelled 
to flee from Ireland to ensure the safety of the League's 
funds and he then took up his residence in Paris. 
While holding this office more than £200,000 pass'ed 
through Mr. Egan's hands, and it was all administered 
with the most scrupulous care and honesty. He is 
now a citizen of Lincoln, Neb., and pi'esident of the 
Irish National League of America. 

Thomas Sexton, the eldest son of Mr. J. Sexton of 
Waterford, is a journalist, and since 1880 he has rep- 
resented Sligo in Parliament, where he enjoys the 
reputation of being, next to Mr. Gladstone, the most 
eloquent speaker in the House of Commons. 

T. D. Sullivan, a brother of the late A. M. Sullivan, 
is a native of Bantry, a poet of no mean order, and 
the proprietor and editor of the famous Dublin 
Nation. 

T. P. O'Connor, the member for Galway, and James 
O'Kelly, the member for Roscommon, are both jour- 
nalists of ability and possess rare powers, either as 
writers or speakers. 

The other gentlemen mentioned are less widely 
known, but thoy were all active and earnest workers 
in the Land League movement. 

Having seen the Land League in Ireland fairly es- 
tablished Mr. Parnell, accompanied by John Dillon, 
set out in December, 1879, for America, to explain to 
the exiled sons of Ireland in this country the deplor- 
able condition of their brothers at home ; to ask for 
assistance to relieve the distress then existing, and to 
invite co-operation in the new movement. He ai-rived 
in New York on January 2, 1880, and visited nearly 
all our large cities, being everywhere enthusiastically 
received. The n:itional Congress accorded him the 
distinguished honor of inviting hira to make an ad- 
dress on the state of Ireland in the Representative 
Chamber at Washington, and several of the State 
Legislatures expressed their sympathy with the object 
of his mission in appropriate resolutions. 



CHARLES STEW ART PARNELL. 81 

Everywhere that he went he spoke to large audi- 
ences and met with the warmest greetings. His 
mission was an nnexamj^led success, and it resulted in 
contributions of thousands upon thousands of pounds 
to relieve the suifering in Ireland and to encourage 
and support the Land League cause. 

As a result of his labors, too, and of those of the 
other leaders who followed him in the work of organ- 
ization in America, the Irish National Land League 
of America was a few months later established to act 
as an auxiliary to that in Ireland. This organization 
had a very rapid growth and in a short time it had 
more than a thousand branches scattered all over the 
land, from which a perfect stream of money flowed 
to Ireland. 

As I may not have occasion to refer to the American 
organization again, a brief notice of its work may not 
be out of place. Branches of the Land League were 
organized independently through the different States 
in the latter part of 1879 and 1880 for the purpose of 
doing what they could to help the movement in Ire- 
land. The first convention was held in Buffalo, N. Y., 
in January, 1881, and a national organization was 
effected by the choice of Hon. Patrick A. Collins of 
Boston, Mass., for president ; Rev. Lawrence Walsh 
of Waterbury, Ct., treasurer ; and Thomas Flatley 
of Boston, Mass., secretary. The organization was 
very successful from the start and in its first year it 
sent more than $250,000 to Ireland. Still there were 
many Irish organizations in America which were not 
in affiliation with the League, and these, too, sent a 
great deal of money to Ireland. 

Upon the arrest of Mr. Parnell and the other leaders 
in October, 1881, Mr. T. M. Healy, Mr. T. P. O'Connor 
and Rev. Eugene Sheehy, who were then in America 
in the interest of the League, suggested that an effort 
be made to unite all Irish-American organizations, 
and a great conference of delegates of Irish societies 
was held in Chicago, 111., for that purpose. An affil- 



32 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

iation scheme was laid before the meeting for con- 
sideration, $27,000 was subscribed on the spot, and 
$250,000 was pledged to help the L'ish cause and 
infuse new enthusiasm into the people at home. 

The Land League's second convention was held in 
Washington, D. C, in April, 1882, and Mr. James 
Mooney of Buffalo, N. Y., was chosen president ; 
Rev. Lawrence Walsh of Waterbury, Ct. (since 
deceased), treasurer, and John J. Hynes, of Buffalo, 
N. Y., secretary. At a convention held in Philadel- 
phia, Pa., in April, 1883, the Land League was merged 
into the Lish National League of America, of which 
Alexander Sullivan of Chicago, Bl., was chosen pres- 
ident ; Rev, Charles O'Reilly of Detroit, Mich., 
treasurer, and Roger Walsh of Chicago, secretary. 
The National League held its second convention in 
Faneuil Hall, Boston, JMass., in August, 1884, and 
elected as officers : Piesident, Patrick Egan of Lin- 
coln, Neb. ; treasurer, Rev. Charles O'Reilly of De- 
troit, Mich. ; secretary, Roger Walsh of Lincoln, 
Neb. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE GENERAL ELECTION IN 1 880 — MR. PAENELL's ELEC- 
TION TO THE LEADERSHIP OP THE PARLIAMENT- 
ARY PARTY ^MR. SHAW AND HIS FOLLOWERS SE- 
CEDE. 

While going through Canada lecturing and organ- 
izing, in March, 1880, the news of the dissolution of 
Parliament reached Mr. Parnell and put an end to his 
tour. He received the message in Montreal on a 
Tuesday and that night he made his farewell address 
to an immense audience and hastened to New York, 
where he took the steamer for Ireland. He landed 
at Queenstown March 21st, and was greeted by the 
people as a deliverer, towns and cities vicing with 




Joseph Gillis Biggar. 



CHARLES STEWART PAKNELL. 33 

each other in doing him honor. He now set energet- 
ically to work organizing the people in support of the 
Land League principles and selecting such candidates 
as would follow out a national policy, and for the 
next five weeks he gave himself scarcely any rest, so 
hard did he work, traveling here and there from eiid 
to end of L'eland. 

But Mr. Parnell was not in a position, at this 
election, to challenge all the constituencies on the 
question whether they were in favor of his policy, 
and as the Land League and the Parliamentary party 
were at that time distinct organizations his connec- 
tion with the one did not help him much with the 
other. He had neither candidates, nor time, nor 
money, then — for the Land League funds could not 
be used for election pm'poses — and the great wonder 
was that, under the circumstances, he did so well. 
He worked with a marvellous energy, and succeeded 
in defeating many of the landlord candidates, but he 
had to allow several of the constituencies to go by 
default and many of the members returned were known 
to be antagonistic to liim and his policy. 

Although Mr. Parnell was at this time by all odds 
the most popular man in Ireland, he did not have 
that hold upon the people's confidence which he has 
since attained, and the opposition to him and his policy 
had many elements of strength in the country. The 
aristocratic influences in the Home Rule party were 
all against him and the more conservative of the 
Catholic clergy regarded his policy with distrust 
and suspicion. In Cork the four Catholic Bisho2:»s 
strove hard and successfully to defeat Andrew Kettle 
whom be had put forward, going so far as to issue 
circulars over their Episcopal crosses commending 
Colonel Colthurst to the voters. But this was an ex- 
ceptional case, and injustice to the bishops and priests 
of Ireland it should be said that they loyally ranged 
themselves by the side or at the head of their peeple 
in this as in all previous Irish movements. And it 



34 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

may be added, in extemiation of the course pursued 
by the more conservative among them, that they were 
by no means the only men who distrusted Mr. Parncll 
in 1880. He was as yet a young and almost an un- 
tried man, and many of his fellow-members in the last 
Parliament — even among the more patriotic ones — had 
opinions of his judgment and capacity which were 
far from complimentary to one who aspired to the 
leadership of a people. 

Up to this point he had not made it clear, even to 
some of his friends, that he possessed definite aims or 
broad and statesmanlike qualities such as a leader 
should possess. His efforts in Parliament had been 
confined, for the most part, to what his opponents 
contemptuously termed " making a row," and many 
good men and earnest patriots looked upon his policy, 
so far as he defined it, as unwise and perilous. His 
advice to farmers to "keep a firm grip on their hold- 
ings" was interpreted to convict him of socialistic 
tendencies, and many other causes tended to weaken 
his canvass — not the least of which was the fact that 
Mr. Shaw was looked upon as the natural successor 
of Isaac Butt and regarded generally as a safe man 
to follow. 

But this timorousness was not shared by the people 
at large, and Mr. Parnell's popularity among them 
may be gauged from the fact that he was elected to 
represent three constituencies, viz.: Cork City, Mayo 
County and Meath County. Of the candidates of the 
National Home Rulers 37 were returned, and the full 
Home Rule strength was 62. To decide the question of, 
leadership a meeting was called in the City Hall, Dub-' 
,lin, for May 17, 1880, and Mt-. Parnell was elected to 
that post by a vote of 23 to 18, several of the new 
members not attending. This vote was, perhaps, the 
first decisive recognition of the new policy in the Par- 
liamentary party and as such I append it for the 
satisfaction of the reader. 

For Parnell — John Barry, Wexford ; J. G. Biggar, 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 35 

Cavan ; Garret M. Byrne, Wexford ; Dr. Andrew 
Cummins, Roscommon ; W. J. Corbelt, Wicklow ; 
John Daly, Cork ; Charles Dawson, Carlow ; James 
L. Finigan, Ennis ; H. J. Gill, Westmealh ; Richard 
Lalor, Queens County ; Edmund Leamy, Waterford ; 
James Leahy, Kildare ; M. M. Marum, Kilkenny ; J. 
C. McCoan, Wicklow ; Justin McCarthy, Longford ; 
T. P, O'Connor, Galway ; Arthur O'Connor, Queens 
County; The O'Gorman Mahon, Clare ; James 
O'Kelly, Roscommon ; W. H. O'Shea, Clare ; W. H. 
O'Sullivan, Limerick ; Thomas Sexton, Sligo ; T. D. 
Sullivan, Westmeath ; — 23. 

For Shaw — John A. Blake, Waterford ; Maurice 
Brooks, Dublin ; Philip Callan, Louth ; Col. David 
Colthurst, Cork ; George Errington, Longford ; J. 
W. Foley, New Ross ; Charles J. Fay, Cavan ; Daniel 
F. Gabbett, Limerick ; E. D. Gray, Carlow ; D. H. 
McFarlane, Carlow ; Sir J. N. 3IcKenna, Youghal ; 
Patrick Martin, Kilkenny ; Charles H. Meldon, Kil- 
dare ; Sir P. O'Brien, Kings county ; Richard Power, 
Waterford ; P. J. Smyth, Tipperary ; John Smith- 
wick, Kilkenny ; E. J. Synan, Limerick. — 18. 

Mr. Parnell had not sought the leadership, and 
personally, it was said, he favored Mr. Justin Mc 
Carthy for the position, but it having been conferred 
upon him he accepted the trust in a speech character- 
istically modest. He said : " The functions of chair- 
man were strictly defined and limited by the resolu- 
tions unanimously adopted by the party some years 
ago, and they did not imply in any sense the leader- 
ship of the party. He did not wish it to be supposed 
by the country that the L-ish party, in conferring this 
high and honorable position upon him, had in any 
way entrusted him with the leadership. True, they 
had conferred upon him the highest and most honor- 
able oihce at their disposal, and he could not but feel 
proportionately proud and grateful, but the position 
was not that of a leader." 

Mr. Parnell now found himself the chosen leader 



36 I'lFE AND SERVICES OF 

(notwithstanding his own depreciation of the fact) of 
the Home Rule party in Parliament, and the events 
of the succeeding years have ratified the wisdom of 
the choice. The question now was, could he succeed 
in holding the members of his party together. Some 
of his associates considered his election premature ; 
others personally disliked him ; and others, again, 
regarded him as a man of inferior abilities, whom ac- 
cident had put forward, £»nd whom it would be ex- 
tremely hazardous to follow. Mr. Shaw, although 
superseded in the leadershij), still retained considera- 
ble influence in the party. He felt deeply the slight 
he had received, and it was feared that neither him- 
self nor his immediate followers would work in 
harmony with the new leader. Mr. Parnell's 
staunchest supporters were the young men of the 
party, and though they were for the most part men of 
brains, it told against them that they were poor and 
of no social standing, for it is a fact that such con- 
siderations, paltry and irrelevant as they may apj^ear, 
are factors which weigh much with the general pub- 
lic in their estimation of men and measures. Under 
the circumstances it was not strange that many, eveu 
of the supporters of Mr. Parnell, were fearful that 
the influence of the new party for good, would be 
rendered nugatory by the dissensions in its ranks. 
These fears soon took tangible shape. 

When the new Parliament assembled in St. 
Stephen's on the 20th of May, 1880, it was a subject 
of remark that Mr. Parnell and his followers took 
seats in the Opposition, below the gangway, where 
they were to pursue their policy as an independent 
party in the House, while Mr. Shaw and his supporters 
seated themselves among the Radicals on the govern- 
ment side of the House. This was the first breach of 
discipline in the party, and as there was no question 
at issue on this occasion, Mr. Shaw's friends will find 
it the harder to excuse or explain. The paily was 
elected as an independent party ; Mr. Parnell was 



CHARLES STEWART PARXELL. 37 

fairly chosen its leader, and it was expected by their 
constituents that all the members would sit together 
and work together in the interests of Ireland. Mr. 
Shaw, in addressing his constituents a short time be- 
fore this had said : " Are we to be met by a Whig 
government with blandishments and small concessions 
here and there? Are we then to subside into their 
ranks and become part and parcel of this great 
Liberal party? I say most decidedly nothing of the 
kind. I should be ashamed of myself representing 
this great constituency ; I should feel a want oi 
earnestness in the cause in behalf of which I am re- 
turned to Parliament, if I did not stand as deter- 
minedly against a Whig majority as against a Tory- 
majority, if they did not yield to the just claims of 
the Irish people." 

Yet here was Mr. Shaw on the first night of the 
succeeding session breaking openly with the chosen 
leader of the party, and taking his seat among the 
" Whig majority " — giving notice to the government, 
in effect, not that he was to stand for " the just claims 
of the Irish people," but that he was to be against 
Parnell. That the breach was to be a permanent one 
soon became evident. Mr. Shaw and his followers 
gradually ceased to attend the private meetings of the 
Irish party, and after a time they gave up all pre- 
tense even of belonging to that body. 

So decisive a step has rarely been taken by Irish 
politicians and with less reason. If the party had re- 
mained united, it is certain that much of the coercive 
legislation of recent years could have been defeated, 
and there is no knowing what might not have been 
accomplished for Ireland. 

It may be true that many of the Parnellites had 
ideas which were extreme and even unwise ; it may be 
that obstruction was cari-ied out by them to lengths that 
were inexpedient ; other charges may be made against 
them, and even allowed ; yet the action of Mr. Shaw 
and his followers will still i-emair defenseless. In a 



38 LIFE AKD SERVICES OF 

party like the Home Rule party mntj is the highest 
essential. If the party was to be swayed in its action 
it should be from within and not from without. If 
Mr. Shaw and his followers thought that the Parnell- 
ites were adopting an unwise policy, they had the 
remedy in their own hands. They should have at- 
tended the meetings of the party and there given ex- 
pression to their views. And their failure to do this 
is the more blamable in that it certainly appears, from 
all I can learn of the inside workings of the Irish 
party, that at its meetings discussion on all questions 
is full and free ; that there is toleration and respect 
for all opinions no matter how divergent, and that no 
man listens more patiently to all sides than the Irish 
leader. 

Although it is true that at that time the Irish peo- 
ple had adopted no detailed platform of principles to 
guide and govern parliamentary action, it was per- 
fectly well understood that the Irish party was to act 
as an independent one ; that it was not to ally itself 
to either of the great English parties, except in re- 
turn for concessions to Ireland, and that all the party's 
objects and aims should be for Ireland first, last and 
always. That Mr. Shaw so understood the purposes 
of the party is shown by the extract quoted from his 
speech. These things being so, it does not seem to 
me that Mr. Shaw's secession can be justified upon 
any grounds. I can appreciate his feeling sore at his 
defeat in the contest for the leadership, but personal 
feelings should not be allowed to interfere Avith the 
duty he owed his country. He was elected as a mem- 
ber of a party which was expected to work as a unit, 
in accord with the views of the majority, on all ques- 
tions affecting Ireland, find only two courses were 
open to him inJionor, One was to gracefully submit 
to the will of the majority ; the other was resigna- 
tion. He failed to take eithar course. Instead he 
challenged comparison with Mr. Parnell, by the atti- 
tude he took on all questions coming before the House, 



fllAKLES STEWAKT PAKNELL. 39 

and he tried to weaken the influence of the Irisli leader 
in every way possible. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE SESSIOiq" OF TARLIAMEXT IN 1880 POLITICAL 

PROSECUTIONS IN IRELAND THE PIGHT AGAINST 

COERCION IN 1881. 

At the begining of the session of the new Parlia- 
ment in 1880, Mr. Gladstone's government had no in- 
tention of dealing with the Irish laiid question if they 
could help it. They had just come into power and 
were as yet undecided in their policy ; the time at 
their disposal was short, and tlie land problem was a 
complicated one. There were besides many English 
questions calling for their attention, and theretofore 
English questions had always, as a matter of course, 
been given precedence over purely Irish ones. Con- 
siderations like these, however, although they had 
great influence with Englishmen, did not weigh with 
the new Irish members, and at a meeting of the party 
held immediately after the reading of the Queen's 
speech, it was resolved to move an amendment to the 
address in reply to the speech from the throne calling 
the attention of government to the deplorable condi- 
tion of affairs in Ireland. This amendment was the 
seed bud which afterwards developed into such 
weighty proportions as the Land act of 1881. 

It was on the night when this amendment was 
brouglit in that Mr. Parnell spoke for the first time 
in Parliament since he had been elected to his new 
position. The House was crowded in every part, and 
when the Speaker called the name of the member for 
Cork great interest was manifested and nearly every- 
body in the galleries stood up to catch a glimpse of 
the new Irish leader. Mr. Parnell sj)oke briefly, but 
with vehemence and force. He drew a rapid picture 



40 LIFE AND SEETICES CP 

of the state of things in Ireland and was listened to 
■with more curiosity than sympathy. The result of 
his speech was tliat lie- was put down as a very vio- 
lent and somewhat eccentric young man. 

To Mr. ShaAv, who also spoke, the attitude of the 
House was quite different. He rose from the bosom 
of the Radical section and was greeted by a burst of 
hearty applause from all the Liberal benches. His 
speech, like Mr. Parn ell's, was a brief one, but it gave 
r. great deal more satisfaction to the English mem- 
bers, and the opinion was freely expressed that his 
lemarks were in welcome contrast to those of his 
rival. 

The contest between the two was held to be still 
rjidecided. The group of young men who formed 
j\lr. Parnell's chief support were rather contemptuous- 
ly spoken of, and the expectation was almost univer- 
sal among Englishmen that T*Ir. Parnell's tenure of 
office as leader would be brief and inglorious. Such 
was the rather unauspicious outlook before the Na- 
tional party at tlie opening of the session of 1880. 

During this session several measures of importance 
to Ireland were introduced, but the chief one was 
Mr. Parnell's " Suspension of Ejectments bill," which 
first forced upon Parliament the necessity of dealing 
with the Irish landlord question. So vigorously did 
Mr. Parnell and his followers press this bill, that Mr. 
Gladstone finally agreed to consider the subject raised 
by the measure and to insert a clause in the " Relief 
of Distress bill " which Avould deal with impending 
evictions in Ireland. The Speaker held, however, 
that this would be conti*ary to order, and Mr. Eorster, 
the new chief secretary for Ireland, was then in- 
structed by Mr. Gladstone to bring in his " Distur- 
bance bill," which was substantially Mr. Parnell's 
bill under another name. 

It was on July 5, during the debate on this measure, 
that Mr. Gladstone gave utterance to the memorable 
opinion that "in the circumstances of disti-ess in 



CHARLES STEAVART PARNELL. 41 

which Ireland then was a sentence of eviction was 
equivalent to a sentence of death." Tlie Tories op- 
posed this bill in each of its stages, hut it was finally 
carried by a large majority and sent to the House of 
Lords where it was ignominiously killed. 

Another notable bill of the session was the "Relief 
of Distress bill," which proposed to relieve the dis- 
tressed tenants in Ireland by loaning money at three 
per cent, interest to rack-renting landlords. This bill 
appealed directly to the English heart, and it passed 
both houses as a matter of course. It is related of 
Lord Lansdowne that, under thismeasure,heborrowed 
a large sum at three per cent, and reloaned the greater 
part of it at five per cent., the increased interest netting 
him a nice little profit on the transaction. I have no 
doubt that there were other landlords equally enter- 
prising. 

This session, if it did nothing else, afforded Mr. 
Parnell and his followers an opportunity to show 
what kind of metal they were made of. They had 
not succeeded in carrying any measure of importance, 
but they had acquired an almost invaluable knowl- 
edge of parliamentary procedure, and several of 
them who were almost unknown at the beginning of 
the year had developed into men of considerable 
ability at its close. If Mr. Para ell had lost the sup- 
port of many of the older members, he was more 
than compensated by the ability, energy and earnest- 
ness displayed by the recruits to his flag, and though 
the struggle for ascendency between the Parnellite 
and Whig sections of the Irish party had not yet 
ended in a decisive victory for either side, it was 
plain to all that, while Mr. Parnell was rapidly and 
continually growing in favor, Mr. Shaw was as un- 
mistakably declining. This was due to the fact tha't 
the people were behind Mr. Parnell. He and his 
party took an active part in organizing the Land 
League and propagating its principles, while Mr. 
Shaw held coldly and distantly aloof. 



42 LIFE AiSD SERVICES OP 

During the vacation monster meetings were held all 
over Ireland, and at all of these Mr. Parnell or one of 
Ills lieutenants was among the speakers. The land 
movement increased in strength, and was now devel- 
oped into the most potent and wide-reaching of Irish 
organizations. In a speecli at Ennis, shortly after the 
close of Parliament, Mr. Parnell laid down, in clear 
and distinct language, the policy of the agitation — 
that the farmers were to trust their o^^•n determina- 
tion and their own combination, and to place no faith 
in the promises of ministers. His remarks were 
eagerly seized by the press of England, and were 
widely and adversely commented upon. 

The agitation had now assumed such vast propor- 
tions, and the Irish people were so evidently in earnest, 
that fears were expressed for the security of the Em- 
j^ire ; and although the meetings, like those of O'Con- 
nell's time, had been disgracedby no disorders, but were 
distinguished rather by the thoughtf ulness, the earnest- 
ness and the sobriety of those attending them, the 
government, following a precedent which had been 
successfully established in 1843, under almost similar 
circumstances, determined to strike a blow, and Mr. 
Parnell, with fourteen of the more prominent of his 
colleagues in the Land League, were put upon their 
trial, charged with " conspiracy to impoverish land- 
lords." 

This action of government aroused intense indigna- 
tion in Ireland, and a lai'ge fund was voluntarily sub- 
scribed by the people, and the most eminent counsel 
retained to defend the traversers. From the first, 
however, the prosecution partook of the nature of a 
mere show, and its abortiveness was foredoomed. To 
make the proceedings more ridiculous, when Parlia- 
ment met on the 6th of January, 1881, although the 
trials were still going on, Mr. Parnell and the other 
members who were included in the indictment, calmly 
made their way to London, as though they were not 
being prosecuted at all, and, when the result of the 



CHARLES STEWAKT PAENELL. 43 

trial was finally arrived at, the Jury standing ten 
for acquittal and two for conviction, the incident had 
almost been forgotten. 

The government had announced its intention to pass 
a coercion bill for Ireland at an early day, and the 
Irish members had made up their minds to frustrate 
the purpose if possible. On the very first night of 
the session of 1881, therefore, Mr. Parnell began the 
obstruction by moving an amendment to the address 
in reply to the Queen's speech, aftirmingjv" that peace 
and tranquility cannot be promoted in Ireland by 
suspending any of the constitutional rights of the 
'Irish people." In accordance with instructions nearly 
every one of the Parnellites spoke in stipport of tl;- 
motion, and they spoke as long as they could. When 
that amendment was disposed of others were brought 
forward and supported in the same manner, and by a 
series of these amendments the debate on the address 
in reply to the speech from the Throne was kept up 
for a fortnight, despite all the efforts of government 
to hurry the passage of the measure. 

The great fight against coercion began on January 
24. On this date Mr. Forster asked for leave to bring 
in his " coercion bill," and Mr. (Gladstone moved that 
the two coercion bills should be proceeded with in pre- 
cedence of all other business. The Parnellites met 
Mr. Gladstone's motion with defiant cheers, followed 
by motion after motion for an adjournment, each mo- 
tion being discussed in full. 

During the evening Mr. Biggar succeeded in getting 
himself "named" by the Speaker and seemed proud 
of the distinction he enjoyed, though his fellow-mem- 
bers were exceedingly wrathful at the Speaker's arbi- 
trary act. 

Dilatory motions followed one after the other, and 
the Parnellites were kept busily employed until 10 
o'clock on the following morning, when Mr. Glad- 
stone's motion, giving precedence to the "coercion 
bill," was finally carried by a vote of 251 to 33. But 



44 LIFE ASTD SERVICES OP 

Mr. Forster had yet to get leave to introduce his bill, 
and on that question the Parnellites kept the House 
going on the 2'7th, and again on the 28th, and again 
on the 31st of January. The ministers were driven 
almost to desperation, and Liberals and Tories alike 
were furiously angry at the little party which thus 
made the power of the Empire significantly impotent 
:uid brought the traditional dignity of Parliament into 
contempt. 

The English press teemed with invective against 
them. Parnell was denounced as a disloyal scoundrel, 
and treats of personal violence to him and his follow- 
ers were greeted with applause by crowds of English- 
men who met on the street corners and in the coffee- 
houses to discuss the unheard-of straits to which the 
time-honored Parliament of England was reduced by 
the implacability of a handful of Irishmen. 

On the 31st of January the government began to 
resort to the system of relays, in the hope of tiring 
the Irishmen out and beating them by sheer force of 
numbers. But here again they were met by the Par- 
nellites, who divided their little party so as to meet 
the attack in its new form. They were fortunately 
possessed of many good speakers, Mr. Parnell him- 
self, Justin McCarthy, J. G. Biggar, T. P. O'Connor, 
A. M. Sullivan, Thomas Sexton, T. M. Healy, James 
O'Kelly, John E. Redmond, and many others — men 
who could talk when they had something to say and 
when they hadn't. The struggle raged all through 
that night, then all through the next day and the next 
night, and when the Speaker came in at 9 o'clock on 
the morning of the 2d of February, Mr. Biggar was 
in the middle of a speech, sjjeaking with undiminished 
and undiminishablc vigor. A large number of mem- 
bers followed the Speaker into the House ; the cham- 
ber began to fill up, and it was evident that the cul- 
mination of the hints and rumors which had been cir- 
culating of *' something about to happen " was at 
hand. Mr. Biggai*, who had taken Ms seat at the en- 



CHARLES STE^yAET PARNELL. 45 

trance of the Speaker, as is customary, arose now to 
resume his address. The Speaker woukl not " see" 
him, however, but declared that he was going to put 
the motion without listening to any more speeches. 
His decision was greeted with cheers by English mem- 
bers and cries of defiance from the Irish benches. Mr. 
Parnell was not present at the time, having gone to 
his hotel to snatch a few hour's sleep. Mr. Justin 
McCarthy attempted to address the Speaker, but the 
latter ignored him, and went on putthig the question 
" that leave be given to bring in the coercion bill," 
and on a division the motion was declared carried by 
a vote of 164 to 19. The second question, " that the 
bill be now read," was then put. Mi\ McCarthy again 
addressed the Speaker, and that functionary not no- 
ticing him, the Irish members marched out of the 
chamber and retired to one of the ante-rooms, where 
they awaited the coming of Mr. Parnell. Having 
been sent for, Mr. Parnell arrived in a few minutes, 
and was quickly made acquainted with the situation 
of ailairs. He had been expecting something of the 
kind for some days, and was not, therefore, much 
surprised at the Speaker's action. 

The Parnellites now discussed their future action 
and it was seriously considered whether the proper 
course to pursue would not be to leave Parliament 
altogether, for the time, and devote their energies to 
the organization of the agitation in Ireland. Many 
members strongly advocated this course, but they 
were, fortunately, overruled, and it was decided not 
to withdraw, but to continue the fight to the end. 

To facilitate business and to put a stronger check 
upon the obstructionists, Mr. Gladstone brought in his 
new "Urgency Rules," and it was for refusing to 
take part in the division on the second reading of this 
bill, that the Parnellites were expelled from the 
House. It is not my intention, nor my province, to 
detail here all that took place during this historic strug- 
gle for and against coercion, in which England broke 



46 LIFE AND SERVICES OP 

through all the traditions of her Parliament and ruth, 
lessly trampled upon time-honored Constitutional 
privileges; suffice it to say that Mr. Gladstone, by the 
aid of his " urgency " rules, succeeded at last in car- 
rying the second coercion bill through the House of 
Commons. It j)assed the House on the 11th of March. 



CHAPTER Vni. 

THE LAND ACT OF 1881. 

On the 7th of April, 1881, Mr. Gladstone brought 
forward his much talked of " Land Act," which was 
looked upon in England as a radical measure of doubt- 
ful utility, and by the Irish members was regarded 
with widely different feelings. Some of these latter 
thought the light had gone so favorably thus far, that 
it would be possible to abolish landlordism altogether 
and that its death, in the condition in which Ireland 
then was, would not be purchased at a very high price. 
By these members the Land bill was regarded as a 
curse, in the disguise of a blessing, and they claimed 
that it should be defeated at all costs. Others pointed 
out that though the bill was imperfect, it contained 
most valuable principles; that it made rack renting 
very difficult; the sale of tenant right absolutely 
free, and that it practically abolished eviction. These 
divisions of opinion caused long and painful discus- 
sions in the party, which ended in the decision to take 
a position of neutrality on the bill. 

This decision was severely criticized both in Eng- 
land and in Ireland, and some of the Irish members 
openly disobeyed the party injunction, notably Mr. T. 
M. Healy, who thought that the bill would do a great 
deal of good and wanted it passed for that reason. 
To him is due the clause in the measure known as the 
" Healy clause," the most radical clause in the bill, which 
provided that " no rent should be made payable in any 



CHAELES STEWART PAENELL. 47 

procedings under the act upon any improvements 
effected by the tenant or his predecessor in title ;" but, 
as the bill was finally passed, this clause was modified 
by an addition which read "unless the tenant has 
been paid or otherwise compensated for these improve- 
ments," and the addition practically nullified the 
clause, for a majority of the judges of the Supreme 
Court afterwards held that by the act of 1870 the laud- 
lord was entitled to claim that length of enjoyment 
by the tenant of improvements effected by hirn was 
a compensation within the meaning of the Ilealy 
clause and within the meaning of the Act of 1881. 

In the light of this judgment by the Supreme 
Court and of other and later events, it is now con- 
ceded that the position of neutrality assumed by Mr. 
Parnell, with regard to the Land bill of 1881, was ; 
strong, and in fact the only tenable one, under the cir- 
cumstances. He had compelled the government to 
give its attention to the Irish land question, but he did 
not consider Mr. Gladstone's bill at all adequate to re- 
dress the grievances of which the people of Ireland 
complained, and he could not, therefore, accept it as a 
final solution of the land question, or as an infallible 
panacea for the tenant's ills. He recognized that it 
contained germs of good in it, however, and he would 
not for that reason oppose its passage. Mr. Gladstone 
had introduced the bill as a government measure and 
he was bound to carry it through, even without Mr, 
Parnell's aid. Mr. Parnell knew this, of course, and 
did not, therefore, in taking a position of neutrality 
on the bill, in any manner imperil its chances of pass- 
ing. The Parnellites did, it is true, refuse to vote for 
the bill on the second reading, but it was not then in 
any danger. On two subsequent occasions, when it 
was in real peril, Mr. Parnell and his followers came 
loyally to its aid and rescued it from defeat. 

The "Land bill " passed the House of Commons on 
July 28, on which date an amendment was made by 
Mr. Parnell to clause 44, suspending evictions for six 



48 LIFE AND SERVICES OP 

months after the passing of the act, so as to enable a 
judicial rent to be fixed. The amendment was as- 
sented to, and the bill was sent to the House of Lords 
where it was passed in an amended form, the Healy 
clause being materially changed and Mr. Parnell's 
amendment struck out all together. Mr. Parnell 
warned the government that these changes struck at 
the very core and essence of the bill, but the ministry 
were unwilling to run the risk of a new general 
election by inviting a quarrel with the upper house, 
and they decided to content themselves with a muti- 
lated measure. In August the bill receivedlhe Royal 
signature and became a law. 

The bill, ! although very imperfect, is valuable 
as a progressive measure and as a concession to 
Irish sentiment, and some of its provisions will be 
productive of great benefit to Ireland. It re-endowed 
the Irish tenant farmer with his ancient tenant right, 
a term used by the Irish tenantry to denote various 
claims of right which they maintained against their 
landlords, such as the right of occupancy not subject 
to removal ; and the right to occupy at a rent not sub- 
ject to increase on the ground of improvements ; it 
being, they hold, and justly, inequitable to make them 
pay rent for what they themselves have produced. It 
also gave to the tenant the ownership of his improve- 
ments, and upon removing from his land the improve- 
ments which he had made would have to be bought 
by the landlord or the new tenant. This, by giving 
the tenant a solid interest in the soil, would operate 
materially in the development of the country's agri- 
cultural resources, but this provision has been rendered 
partially inoperative by the decision of the court 
with reference to the Healy clause previously spoken 
of. The bill further provided that if a farmer wished 
to change from the condition of a secure tenant to 
that of a peasant proprietor, and could find a land- 
lord willing to sell, the State would advance three- 
fourths of the purchase money, and if no such oppor- 



CHA.BLES STEWART PARNELL. 49 

tunity offered, he could yet obtain advantages ap- 
proaching such as accrue from ownership by becom- 
ing a fee farmer, the State coming to his aid with one 
half the sum required. 

The bill gave the tenant fixity of tenure, too, and es- 
tablished a system of courts for the fixing of fair rents 
upon application. The landlord who tried to raise the 
rent, by never so little, would only fix the tenant in the 
soil for the space of fifteen years, and so securely, that 
he could not trouble him for the entire length of that 
period. In short the bill established four things for 
which the Irish tenant farmer had long contended, 
namely, peasant proprietorship, free sale, fair rents 
and fixity of tenure ; the first fully ; the rest in po- 
tential principle, demanding earnest and vigilant care 
to develop and apply. 

Herein I think I have enumerated all the important 
benefits likely to accrue to the Irish tenant farmers 
from Mr. Gladstone's bill, but there were many serious 
difficulties in the way of i)utting the beneficial pro- 
visions of the act into operation. The expense at- 
tending application to the courts would be large ; the 
landlords would fight against reductions to the bitter 
end, and, on the whole, it was doubtful if the expense 
of litigation would not more than offset any reductions 
in rent that might eventually result from application 
to the courts. 

Under these circumstances Mr. Parnell considered 
that the Land League would be justified in interven- 
ing in behalf of the tenants, particularly as the land- 
lords had organized a Defense Association to protect 
their interests, and he set about preparing a number 
of test cases Avhich he would submit to the courts at 
the expense of the League, and when these were de- 
cided they would form a basis upon which all other 
reductions could be made. 

The Land League was now in the height of its 
power and its infiuence extended to the remotest 
portions of the land. It exercised a very potent de- 



50 LIFE AND SEKVICES OF 

terring influence on rack-renting landlords and it as- 
sisted the tenants in resisting their greedy exactions 
in various ways. It advised sturdy opposition to the 
payment of unjust rents and exhorted farmers not to 
take any holding from which a tenant had been 
evicted. It was very servicable too in aiding the 
evicted ones, building huts for them to reside in free 
of cost, and furnishing them with the necessaries of 
life. In this way it was enabled to exert a powerful 
and wide-reaching influence which was of vast im- 
portance to the success of the movement. The unique 
method called Boycotting, which was suggested by 
Mr. Parnell and almost universally practiced in Ire- 
land against the people's enemies, als* helped im- 
measurably in hastening the issue between landlords 
and tenants. 

By this method the man who took a farm from 
Avhich a tenant had been evicted was socially ostra- 
cized. His neighbors would neither buy from him, 
nor sell to him ; neither would they hold converse with 
him, nor go to church where he attended, nor deal Avith 
the shopkeeper who sold him goods, nor in any way 
recognize or associate with him. 

By this time the priests had almost all affiliated 
with the movement and Avere giving it their hearty 
support, being in many instances the presidents, 
treasurers or other officers in the local branches. A 
few Protestant ministers also took an active part in 
the uprising, and it was not an uncommon sight to 
see priests and ministers addi-essing the people from 
the same platform. 

In all Ireland's history no parallel organization can 
be found for the Land League at this time. In num- 
bers, in organization, in unity, in Intelligent method 
and in far-reaching influence it surpassed anything of 
tlie kind ever known in Iieland, or indeed in any 
other country. Its meetings rivalled in magnitude 
the monster assemblages of the Repeal agitation Avhile 
they Avere much more numerously held. Its edicts 



CHARLES STEWAKT PAKNELL. 51 

were regarded as lav/ by the great majority of the 
people, and its constituted courts were more largely 
resorted to than those of the realm. 

To this powerful organization was due the fact 
that the distress in Ireland during those years had 
been in great measure alleviated if not averted. 
Through its branches, which existed in almost every 
town in the country, large sums of money had been 
distributed in relieving su£Eering, and if the famine of 
1879 and 1880 did not have such tragical results as 
that of 1845-1848 the Land League and not the Brit- 
ish government must be credited with the diminution 
of misery. 

The government had tried in various ways to sup- 
press the growth of the organization, but in vain. 
Hundreds of the local leaders had been arrested as 
suspects under the Coercion act and thrown into jail 
without even being accorded the grace of a trial, but 
their places were soon filled and the movement seemed 
to thrive in proportion as it was persecuted. 

On the loth of September, 1881, the Land League 
held a convention in Dublin, more than 1,000 dele- 
gates from all parts of the country attending. 
Twenty -one members of Parliament and a large num- 
ber of clergymen were present. Mr. Parnell pre- 
sided and was greeted Avith the greatest enthusiasm as 
he took the chair. Li his opening speech he referred 
to the thinning of tlieir ranks by coercion since the 
last convention and said that for every ten imprisoned 
a hundred would join the League. He recapitulated 
the resolutions and said that the question of self- 
government was the most important. He had always 
considered that it could never be settled so long as the 
questions in regard to rent remained in dispute. The 
Land act, he said, left the rent question as a contin- 
ual source of discontent and strife between the differ- 
ent classes in Ireland. He had no doubt that tliis 
was designedly so arranged by the British govern- 
ment. He v/arned the farmers not to trust the Land 



52 LIFE AND SERVICES OE 

act which he said was designed to break the League. 
Nobody should appeal to the land courts until test 
cases, to be prepared by the League, had been sub- 
mitted. They should press forward to the abolition 
of landlordism, and to legislative independence. He 
advised the farmers to borrow money under the Land 
act so as to give work to laborers, and invited all the 
latter to join the League, pledging himself to head the 
laborers' movement if the farmers did not give them 
fair play. In regard to the industrial question he 
said that L'ishmen should encourage home manufact- 
ures, even if they had to pay dearer than for foreign 
goods, and things not producible in Ireland should be 
bought in America. English goods should not be 
bought in any event. 

The convention was perhaps the most thoroughly 
representative and enthusiastic assemblage held in 
Ireland since the famous convention of the Volun- 
teers in IV 82 and the result of its deliberations was 
regarded with great interest. Mr. Parnell's speech 
and the resolution respecting the test cases were 
especially the subject of criticism in the Irish and the 
English press, which in Ireland was favorable or the 
reverse according to the political leanings of the 
journals, while in England the comment was almost 
universally condemnatory. 



CHAPTER IX. 

GLADSTONE AXD TAUNELL. 

The government became very angry because of the 
position which Mr. Parnell assumed with respect to 
the Land act, and Mr. Gladstone seemed to think 
that the Irish leadei^'s speech at the Land League 
convention callcil for some expression of opinion ou 
his part. Ou tlie 7th of October following he 
made an address at Leeds, England, in which he 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 63 

defendea his Land bill and bitterly denounced Mr. 
Parnell as the instigator of outrages in Ireland. He 
accused him of preaching public plunder also, and 
blamed him because he did not publicly repudiate the 
acts of the dynamiters in England. Referring to the 
test case policy of the Land League Mr. Gladstone 
said : 

"The very thing that is most necessary for the 
Land Leaguers to do is to intercept the progress of the 
Land act. And how do they set about it? Mr. Par- 
nell, with his myrmidons around him in his Land 
League meetings in Ireland, has instructed the peo- 
ple of Ireland that they are not to go into a court 
which the Parliament of the country has established 
in order to do justice. If Mr. Parnell, under the 
name of test cases, carries before the court moderate 
and fair rents, of which there are many in Ireland, the 
court will reject the application ; and when the court 
has rejected the application, Mr. Parnell and his train 
will tell the Irish nation that they have been betrayed, 
that the court is worthless, and that the Land act ought 
to meet with their unequivocal repudiation. And so 
he will play his game and gain his object if the people 
of Ireland should listen to his fatal doctrines. Be- 
cause, gentlemen, you know as well as I do that the 
Parliament of this country is not going to over- 
turn the principles of public right and public 
order ; and I think you also know, what I fully be- 
lieve, that the people of this country, in any such 
question relating to the government of a portion of 
the Queen's territory, weak as they may be if their 
case is unjust, ina just case are invincible." After fur- 
therattacks onMr.Parnell andhisfollowers,andnoend 
of praises on Buckshot Forster, " the philanthropist," 
the Prime Minister called him, the right honorable 
gentleman concluded: "These opinions, gentlemen, 
are called forth by the grave state of facts. I do not 
give them to you as anything more than opinions, 
but they are opinions sustained by references to 



64 LIFE AXD SEEVICES OP 

words and to actions. They all have regard to this 
great impending crisis, in which we depend on the 
good sense of people, and in which we are deter- 
mined that no force and no fear of force and no fear 
of ruin through force shall, so far as we are con- 
cerned — and it is in our power to decide the question 
• — prevent the Irish people from having the full and 
free benefit of the Land act." 

It is unnecessary to say that in this speech Mr. 
Gladstone did great injustice to the Irish leader, and 
there is reason to believe that he himself has since re- 
gretted the unwarrantable charges therein made. Mr. 
Parnell always deprecated outrages in Ireland and 
did all in his power to prevent them. " Give no ex- 
cuse for violence on the the part of the government," 
he time and again advised the people, *' and our great 
cause is won." And not the slightest particle of 
proof can be brought forward to show that he was 
connected, or ever sympathized, with the dynamiters. 
Mr. Gladstone was at the time, however, very solicit- 
ous for the success of his Land bill and was not par- 
ticular what he said about those whom he deemed its 
eneinies. He seemed to think that Mr. Parnell 
was desirous, from selfish motives, of defeating 
the ends aimed at in his pet measure and that he 
was actually going to render it abortive simply by 
getting the people not to make applications under it ; 
whereas, the facts are that jNIr. Parnell was acting all 
the while in good faith. He was not satisfied with 
the act, it is true, but he recognized the good in it, 
and was anxious that the people should obtain all the 
benefits that its provisions could give them without 
any curtailments, and for this purpose he proposed 
that it should be taken advantage of in a systematic 
manner. Those best qualified to sjieak on this subject 
— including the land commissioners themselves — have 
since confessed that Mr. Parnell's plan was an intel- 
ligent, a comprehensive and adecisive one, and the plan 
best fitted to obtain uniformity of judgment, and, as a 



CHARLKS STEAYAET PAENELL. 55 

consequence, a decrease of litigation, which would re- 
sult in a considerable saving to both landlords and 
tenants. Mr. Parnell's action and advice were en- 
tirely constitutional. He simply proposed that the ten- 
ants act in combination, and not singly, the end in view 
being to obtain the greatest amount of benefit that 
could be got out of the act at the smallest possible 
cost. The landlords had a Property Defence Fund 
Association representing at the time £5,000,000, and 
their object was to weaken or invalidate, or even de- 
feat the purposes of the act, if possible — an unconsti- 
tutional object, while Mr. Parnell's was a lawful one 
— and yet Mr. Gladstone made no reference in his 
speech to Mr. Kavanagh or his " myrmidons." The 
tenants had just as much right to combine as had the 
landlords, and, in making Mr. Parnell's advice on the 
test cases the subject of his violent attack, Mr, Glad- 
stone exposed himself to the retort that in this matter 
he was acting in just the one-sided manner that Eng- 
lishmen had always acted in dealing with Ireland — 
that is, that he was shutting his eyes to the wrong- 
doing of the dominant class, while at the same time 
straining points to convict the representatives of the 
people of violations of law. 

But the Irish leader did not allow Mr. Gladstone to 
go uiirebuked. Two days later at Wexford he ad- 
dressed upwards of 10,000 people, and in his speech 
he took occasion to answer the prime minister in kind. 
I subjoin the speech almost entire: 

"People of the City and County of Wexford — I 
am proud to see that your county has not forgotten 
her traditions, but that you are prepared to-day, as 
you always were to return a fitting answer to threats 
and intimidation, even if it should become necessary 
to use those means which were used in 1798 by an 
unsci'upulous government, — means which failed then, 
and which, please God, will fail again if they are 
tried again. You in this country have arrived at the 
commencement of the second year of existence of 



66 LIFE AIJD SERVICES OP 

this great Land League movement. You have gained 
something by your exertions during the last twelve 
months, but I am here to-day to tell you that you have 
gained but a fraction of that to which you are justly 
entitled. And the Irishman who thinks that he can 
now throw away his arms, just as Grattan disbanded 
the Volunteers in 1782, will find to his sorrow and 
destruction, when too late, that he has placed himself 
in the power of a perfidious, cruel, unrelenting English 
enemy. You have had an opportunity recently, many 
of you, no doubt, of studying the utterances of a 
very great man, a very great orator, a person who 
recently desired to impress the world with a great 
opinion of his philanthropy and hatred of oppression, 
but who stands to-day the greatest coercionist, the 
greatest and most unrivaled slanderer of the Irish 
nation that ever undertook that task. I refer to Will- 
iam Ewart Gladstone and his unscrupulous and dis- 
honest speech the day before yesterday. Not content 
with maligning you, he maligns John Dillon. " He 
endeavors to misrepresent the young Ireland party of 
1848. No misrepresentation is too patent, too low, 
or too mean for him to stoop to, and it is a good sign 
that this masquerading kuight-errant, this pretended 
champion of liberties of every other nation except 
those of the Irish nation, should be obliged to throw 
off the mask to-day and to stand revealed as the man 
who, by his own utterances, is prepared to carry fire 
and sword into your homesteads unless you humble 
and abase yourselves before him and before the land- 
lords of this countiy. But I have forgotten I had 
said that he had maligned everybody. Oh, no; he 
has a good word for one or two people. He says that 
the late JMr. Isaac Butt Avas a most amiable man and 
a true patriot. When we in Ireland were following 
Isaac Butt into the lobbies, endeavoring to pass the 
very act which AVilliam Ewart Gladstone passed, by 
having stolen the idea from Isaac Butt, William Ewart 
Gladstone and his ex-government officials were fol- 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 57 

lowing Sir Stafford Northcote and Benjamin Disraeli 
into the other lobby. No man was good in Ireland 
until he was dead and unable to do anything more for 
his country. In the opinion of an English statesman, 
no man is good in Ireland until he was buried and una- 
ble to strike a blow for Ireland, and perhaps the day 
may come when I may get a good word from English 
statesmen as a moderate man when I am dead and 
buried. 

" When Mr. Gladstone a little lower down accuses 
us of preaching the doctrine of public i3lunder, and 
of proclaiming a new gospel of plunder, and, further 
down, of the promulgation of a gospel of sheer 
plunder — (A voice, 'That is his own doctrine.') I 
would be obliged to my friend in the crowd if he 
would leave me to make the speech, and not be antic- 
ipating me. When the people talk of public plunder 
they should first ask themselves and recall to mind 
who were the first public plunderers in Ireland. The 
land of Ireland has been confiscated three times over by 
the men whose descendants Mr. Gladstone is support- 
ing in the fruits of their phmder by his baj'onets and 
his buckshot. When we speak about plunder we are 
entitled to ask who were the first of the plunderers. 
Oh, yes; but we can say a little more than that too; 
we can say, or at all events if we don't say it others 
will say it, that the doctrine of public plunder is 
only a question of degree. Who was it that first 
sanctionedthis doctrine of public plunder will be asked 
by some persons. I am proceeding in the demand 
that the improvements of the tenants — and their 
predecessors in title — shall be his, no matter how long 
ago they may have been made. I am proceeding 
upon the lines of an amendment in the land act of 
1881, which was inti'oduced by Mr. Healy, framed by 
Mr. Gladstone's attorney-general for Ireland and 
sanctioned by Mr. Gladstone, his whole cabinet, the 
House of Commons, and the House of Lords. If 
your rents are reduced at all under this land act, it 



58 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

will be because this land act requires tbat for twenty 
yeai's back the improvements of the tenant or his 
predecessors in title shall not be valued by the land- 
lord for rent, and I say that it is a question of degree 
if you extend that limit of twenty years, within 
Avhich period the improvements of the tenants have 
been protected by the legislature, to that period, no 
matter how long, within which those improvements 
have been made. 

" Why should the landlord be entitled to compensa- 
tion for improvements that may have been made one 
liundred years ago, any more than lie should be en- 
titled to improvements made twenty years ago ? And 
1 say that it is this doctrine of public plunder. It is 
a question of degree, and William Ewart Gladstone, 
who has sliown himself more capable of eating his 
own woids, and better able to recede from principles 
and declarations which he has laid down with just as 
much fervor as he made the speech the other evening, 
will, before long, if he lives long enough, introduce a 
bill into the House of Commons to extend this very 
principle of public plunder which he has sanctioned 
by las act of 1881, and to thoi-oiighly protect the 
interests of tenants and their predecessors in l-ltlefor 
improvements they have made, so that if we are to 
go into this question the utmost that Mr. Gladstone 
and the Liberal party will be able to make out of it 
will be to find that there are some persons very much 
better entitled to call him a little robber than he is to 
call me a big one. But I was forgetting a point ; he 
has a good Avord for Mr. Shaw. He has discovered 
that there are only four or five honest Irishmen in 
the country, and one of these is Mr. Shaw. He- 
blames me for not having disapproved of what he 
falls the dynamite policy. Well, I am not aware that 
iMr. Shaw has repudiated the dynamite policy either ; 
i)ut I'il tell you what Mr. Shaw said, and you must 
b«ar in mind that, in addition to speaking well of him 
as an honest Irishman, Mr. Gladst(me also offered him 



CHARLES STEWART PAENELL. 59 

a situation as one of the land commissioners. Mr. 
Shaw did not repudiate the dynamite policy any more 
than I did ; but I'll tell you what he did eighteen 
months ago in the county of Cork. He said that his 
blood boiled whenever he saw a process-server, and 
that he never met one without feeling inclined to take 
the linch-pin out of his car. Now, gentlemen, if I 
said that to you to-day Mr. Gladstone would have 
me in Kilmainham before three weeks were out. Nay, 
more, if I had- ever spoken anything like that Mr. 
Gladstone would have had me in Kilmainham long 
ago." 

Referring to Mr, Gladstone's charge that "he (Mr. 
Parnell) was afraid, now that the land act was passed, 
lest the people of England by their long-sustained ef- 
forts should win the hearts of the whole Irish nation," 
Mr. Parnell said : 

" Long-sustained efforts in what ? Was it in evict- 
ing the 2,000 tenants who have been evicted since the 
1st of January last ? Was it in patting the two hun- 
dred honorable and brave men in Kilmainham and the 
other jails of the country ? Was it in issuing a police 
circular of a more infamous character than any which 
has ever been devised by any foreign despot ? Was 
it in the sending of hundreds of thousands of rounds 
of ball cartridge to his Bashi-Bazouks throughout the 
country ? Was it in sharpening the bayonets of the 
latest issue to the Royal Irish Constabulary ? And if 
it was not all these sustained efforts which Mr. Glad- 
stone has taken up nobly and well from his predeces- 
sors in the title of misgoverning Ireland, I should like 
to know what were the efforts of which William 
Ewart Gladstone talks when he speaks of those sus- 
tained efforts which he is making for the ])eople of 
Ireland. He charges us with having refused to vote 
for the second reading of his land act ; he charges us 
with having used every effort to disparage, to dis- 
credit, and, if we couLl, to destroy his land bill ; he 
points to our refusal to compromise our position by 



60 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

voting on the second reading as his proof, and then he 
goes on to say that on every subsequent occasion, on 
the two subsequent occasions when that bill was really 
in danger, I and the Irish party rescued Gladstone 
and his cabinet by our thirty-six votes from destruc- 
tion and defeat. And then in the close of his sjDeech 
he adraits our whole position and contention. In one 
last despairing wail he says that when the govern- 
ment is expected to preserve the peace it has no moral 
force behind it. The government has no moral force 
behind it in Ireland. The whole Irish people are 
against them. They have to depend for their support 
on the self-interest of a very small minority of the 
people of this country, and therefore they have no 
moral force behind them. Mr. Gladstone, in those few 
short words, admits that the English government has 
failed in Ireland ; he admits the contention that Grat- 
tan and the volunteers of '82 fought for; he admits 
the contention that the men of '98 lost their lives for; 
he admits the contention that O'ConneU argued for ; 
he admits the contention that the men of '48 staked 
their all for ; he admits the contention that the men 
of '65, after a long period of depression and of appar- 
ent death of all national life, in Ireland, cheerfully 
faced the dungeon and the horrors of penal servitude 
for, and admits the contention that to-day you in your 
overpowering multitudes have re-established, and, 
please God, will bring to a successful and final issue, 
namely, that England's mission in Ireland has been a 
failure, and that Irishmen have established their right 
to govern Ireland by laws made by themselves for 
themselves on Irish soil, and he winds up w^ith a 
threat. This man, who has no moral force beliind 
him, he winds up with a threat : * No fear of force 
and no fear of ruin through force shall, so far as we 
are concerned, and it is in our power to decide the 
question, prevent the Irish people from having the 
full and free benefit of the Land act.' I say it is not 
in his power to trample on the aspirations and the 



CHARLES STEWAKT PAENELL. 61 

rights of the Irish jDeople Avith no moral force behind 
liim. These are very brave words that he uses, but 
it strikes me that they have a ring about them like 
the whistle of a schoolboy on Jiis way through a 
cliurchyard at night to keep up his courage. He 
would have you to believe that he is not afraid of you 
because he has disarmed you, because he has attempted 
to disorganize you, because he knows that the Irish 
nation is to-day disarmed, so far as physical weapons 
go. But he does not hold this kind of language with 
the Boers. What did he do at the commencement 
of the session ? He said something of this kind. He 
said he was going to put them down ; but as soon as 
he had discovered that they were able to shoot 
straighter than his own soldiers, he allowed these few 
men to put himself and his government down, and 
though he has attempted to regain some of his lost 
position in the Transvaal by the subsequent chicanery 
of diplomatic negotiations, yet that sturdy and small 
people in the distant Transvaal have seen through Mr. 
William Ewart Gladstone, and they have told him 
again for a second time that they will not have their 
liberties filched from them; and, as the result, I be- 
lieve we shall see thnt Mi'. Gladstone will again yield 
to the people of the Transvaal. And I trust we shall 
see, as the result of this great m.ovemcnt, tliat just as 
Mr. Gladstone, by the act of 1881, has eaten all his 
bold words, has departed from all his former declared 
principles, so we shall see that these brave words of 
this English prime minister will be scattered as chaff 
before the united and advancing determination of the 
Iiish people to regain for themselves their lost land 
and their lost legislative independence," 



62 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 



CHAPTER X. 

THE ARREST OP MR. PARNELL THE NO RENT MANI- 
FESTO — THE STATE OF IRELAND. 

A PEW clays after the speech at Wexford — on Oct. 
13 — Mr. Parnell was arrested as a suspect aad cast 
into Kilniainham jail. On the day of the arrest Mr. 
Gladstone happened to be making an address in the 
Guildhall in London, and he was notified of the event 
by a telegram from Chief Secretary Forster. He was 
still speaking when the message reached him, and he 
stopped to read it, after having done which he an- 
nounced to his audience, with all the empressement of 
voice, gesture and langunge at his command, the fact 
that the Irish leader had been arrested in Ireland, 
and the audience of Englishmen received the news 
with cheer upon cheer of savage exultation. 

But this triumphant mood soon passed away, for it 
was discovered that the arrest of Mr. Parnell and the 
other leaders, instead of bringing about the pacifica- 
tion of the country, only induced greater disturb- 
ances. 

And now, as a, retaliatory measure, Messrs. Parnell, 
Davitt, Kettle, Brennan, Dillon, Sexton and Egan, 
who composed the executive of the Land League, 
issued the "No Rent" manifesto on October 18, in 
which the tenants were advised "to pay no rents 
under any circumstances to their landlords until the 
government relinquishes the existing system of ter- 
rorism and restores the constitutional rights of the 
people." 

It is difficult to describe correctly the feelings 
which the publication of this document evoked among 
all classes. In England and among the landlord 
class in Ireland the manifesto was received with 
mingled feelings of fury and dismay ; but, by the 
Irish people generally, it was looked upon as a bold 
move and received vath enthusiasm. 



CHAKLES STEWART PAENELL. 63 

The effect of the manifesto was to intensify and 
invigorate the movement for the time being, and the 
imprisoned leaders were raised to a more exalted 
niche in the popular estimation. 

The Irish in America received the manifesto in 
something the same manner that they would welcome 
a declaration of war against England — with acclama- 
tion. And Wendell Phillips — that noblest friend of 
all oppressed peoples — publicly exclaimed in Boston, 
" Thank God that Gladstone arrested Parnell ! He 
has lifted him fi-om being the head of the Land 
League to being the head of the greatest moral and 
human movement of the age." The contributions to 
the League fund redoubled in amount; Dublin, and 
other corporations in L-eland, honored the prisoners 
by conferring the freedom of the city upon them and 
Mr. Parnell's popularity among his countrymen had 
never been so great. 

The government followed its first blow by others 
in quick succession. The Land League was pro- 
claimed ; the local branches were dissolved ; the 
leadei-s of the people were arrested each week by 
scores ; the Nationalist press was muzzled, and the 
country was practically under martial law. Mr. Egan 
had some time before this Hed to Paris with the League 
funds, fearing that the government would attempt t>^ 
confiscate them, and all contributions were now sen. 
to him in that city. 

By the close of 1881 more than 300 of the people's 
leaders were in jail, and the number was each week 
increasing. Among tl^e first victims had been Michael 
Davitt, John Dillon, whose recent arrest was his 
second one, T. M. Healy and the celebrated Rev. 
Eugene Sheehy, C. C. The women of L-eland had 
formed a Ladies' Land League for purposes such as 
those created by the present emergency and they now 
took the place of the men in looking after the evicted 
and the families of those who were in prison. But 
the government soon proclaimed their organization 



64 LIFE AND SEEVICES OF 

also, and many of the ladies were arrested and im- 
prisoned. 

Mr. Labouchere, M. P., speaking of the state of 
affairs in Ireland at that time, said in his paper, 
London Truth ; 

" The only lawlessness in Ireland is that of which 
Gladstone is guilty. Kilmainhara jail is full of pris- - 
oners, not one of whom could be convicted of any 
crime known to the laws of England before an im- 
partial jury. And no impartial court would permit 
the case to go to the jury. No pretence of any inten- 
tion is made to try them for any crime known to the 
laws of England. And the only object of urging a 
declaration of martial law is that they may be con- 
victed and punished for acts which are not crimes." 

And His Grace Archbishop Croke, of Cashel, in a 
speech to the people of Ballingarry described the ex- 
isting state of things in this way : 

"The trusted leaders of the people have been 
clutched by the salaried supporters of ' law and order,* 
and cast into prison. The boasted privileges of the 
British Constitution have been practically canceled, 
so far at least as this country is concerned. Liberty 
of sjieech and meeting exists no longer, except for a 
favored few. Sick men seized upon in the very 
height of their malady and mercilessly flung into 
jail ; a reign of terror, in fact, not less certain, though 
happily less sanguinary, than that which existed in 
France in the days of its national frenzy, exists in 
our midst, and no man if free to-day can be sure that 
he will not be in jail to-morrow. Such is the state of 
Ireland to-day." 

The constabulary used their authority as merci- 
lessly as any soldiers that tyranny ever had. If a 
crowd did not disperse upon the moment they 
were ruthlessly fired upon, and people were shot 
down almost daily by these so-called guardians of 
the peace who had absolutely committed no lawless 
act. Even the dignity and helplessness of women 




Justin McCarthy. 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 65 

afforded them no protection from these warriors, for 
they shot down women as well as men. In several 
instances coroners' juries, on their solemn oaths and 
on sworn testimony, had found and recorded verdicts 
of willful murder against the police, but of such in- 
significant incidents the government, of course, took 
no notice ; and if anybody had the temerity to raise 
his or her voice in remonstrance against the barbari- 
ties perpetrated in the name of the law, he or she was 
immediately flung into prison. 

And during this period of terrorism a whole army 
of agents and bailiffs and guards of police and soldiery 
were kept constantly employed in the work of evict- 
ing, and the number of ejectments which in 1879 was 
but 1,348 rose inl880 to 10,457 ; and in 1881 to up- 
wards of 16,000. In the first quarter of 1882 there 
were more than 7,000 persons evicted and the Dublin 
Freeman computed that the number would be in- 
creased to 50,000 before the year expired. 

Many of these evictions took place under circum- 
stances of the greatest cruelty, women in sickness and 
old people in a dying condition being thrust from their 
homes out onto the roadside to perish, and instances 
are on record where people have died while the bail- 
iffs were in the very act of evicting them. Even the 
London Times — never the friend of the Irish — was 
forced to admit at this time that it was " an irksome, 
not to say an odious task to enforce wholesale evic- 
tions and to compel the payment of rent by military 
or quasi-military force," and recognized the obliga- 
tion, " not less stringent, on the landlords' part, to 
abstain from oppressive and unreasonable demands 
on tenants whose inability to pay in full is clearly 
demonstrated. It cannot be reasonably doubted that 
there are such cases, and, whether they be few or 
many, their existence, and the bitter resentment they 
engender, is the festering source of the discontents 
which make Ireland so turbulent and irreconcilable." 

The advice given in the " iS'o Rent " manifesto, al- 



66 LIFE AAD SEBVICES OP 

though largely obeyed, was not so widely followed as 
the leaders liad a right to expect. This was due to 
many influences of which the most potential was, 
doubtless, the selfish but natural desire of the 
farmers to profit all they could from tlie Land act. 
In a large number of cases great reductions in rent 
were voluntarily offered by the landlords, and the 
tenants would be more — or less — than human if there 
Vv'ere not some among them willing to accept. On 
the Duke of Leinster's estate, in county Kildare, re- 
ductions amounting to £5,000 per annum were made 
in this way without the tenants even going to court, 
and like reductions on a smaller scale were made and 
accepted in other parts of the country, not to speak 
of the many settlements made in the land courts. 

Another influence which tended to modify the ef- 
fect of the "No Rent" manifesto was that of the 
Catholic clergy. Archbishop Croke, whose patriotism 
is unquestionable, made a vigorous protest against 
the manifesto and the doctrine which it enunciated in 
a letter to the Dublin Freeman and the bishops and 
priests were almost a unit in their 023i30sition. 

Even among the Nationalist press the support of 
the measure was by no means hearty or unanimous, 
those journals which supported the act doing so 
mainly on the ground of expediency. The Dublin 
Freeman, whose editor and proprietor^ Mr. E. Dwyer 
Gray, was a member of the Irish National party in 
Parliament referred to the matter in the following 
terms : 

" We foresee dire confusion and ruin to individuals, 
and possible strife and bloodshed. However opinions 
may differ as to the propriety and legality of the ad- 
vice tendered to the people by the imprisoned leaders 
of the League, there can be no difference as to the 
eloquence and alnlity in which the case of the League 
is stated. We do not believe that tenants will follow 
the counsel not to pay rents. We believe that a bet- 
ter and wiser spirit is springing up. There is shown 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 67 

in many districts an extreme desire to terminate the 
fruitless controversy. We have no proof yet that the 
Land act will not be carried out otherwise than in the 
most honest way." 

Notwithstanding all these drawbacks there can be 
no doubt but what the " No Rent " manifesto made 
it extremely cold for the landlord class in Ireland, 
and introduced not a few of them to that state of 
destitution in which they had long insisted in keeping 
their tenants. 

But the no rent movement as a policy was fore- 
doomed to defeat. It might perhaps have succeeded 
in bringing some of the landlords to a condition of 
destitution — and there would be some satisfaction in 
that — but it is now, I think, generally admitted that 
it could not achieve any i^ermanent benefit for Ireland. 
It might starve a few landlords, but it could not wrest 
the ownership of their lands away from them, nor 
could it vest that ownership in the tenants. The 
manifesto was, in fact, a mistake, and it was bound 
to fail. 

If such a movement ever could have succeeded in 
Ireland, no time was surely so propitious as that at 
which the manifesto was issued and had there been 
no such promulgation many extremists would declare, 
perhaps, that a great opportunity had been missed. 
As it was day after day through the winter of 1881- 
1882 brought the leaders in prison news, not of a firm 
stand against payment of rents, but of settlements for 
large reductions on a constantly growing number of 
estates. The poorer cottiers alone were staunch and 
they suffered for their loyalty. Evictions among 
them went on increasing from week to week, and it 
was evident with the array of military force at the 
landlords' command that the smaller class of tenants 
whom bad years had left penniless and the Land act 
unbenefited must if unprovided for be swept from the 
country. The larger farmers, with few exceptions, 
had already profited by the land movement , and in 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF 



order that these humbler tenants might be secured, 
Mr. Parnell in his cell drafted the Arrears bill of 
which I will speak by and bj. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE KILMAINHAM TEEATY THE PHCENIX PARK 

TRAGEDIES THE CRIMES AND THE ARREARS 

ACTS. 

The year 1882 had opened for Ireland with every 
jDrison in the country a bastile, filled with untried 
men, arrested and detained on suspicion — some of 
them the leading representative personages in Ire- 
land. The natural vent of open agitation was closed, 
and as a consequence the hedge assassin and the se- 
cret dagger were coming into prominence. By the 
spring the government had become pretty well sat- 
isfied that coercion was not progressing very rapidly 
in restoring peace to Ireland. The state of things in 
that country had never been so bad, and, despairing 
at last of remedying them in his own way, Mr. Glad- 
stone had recourse to Mr. Parnell. Communication 
was opened with the Irish leader while still in prison; 
the Kilmainham treaty followed, and, on May 2, JVIr. 
Parnell, with others of the suspects, were released 
upon terms as hard as an English minister was ever 
forced to accept. Earl Cowper, the Lord-Lieutenant, 
and W. E. Forster, the Chief Secretary, were to be 
recalled; the suspects were to be released; the coer- 
cion policy was to be abandoned; the Arrears bill 
was to be adopted, and all the amendments required 
to facilitate the better working of the Land act were 
to be pushed through as soon as possible. 

The treaty was everywhere regarded as a great 
Irish victory, and it ranked Mr. Parnell as a diplomat 
of superior abilities. All the mighty forces of the 
Empu-e had been employed to put down the agita- 



CHAELES STEWART PAENELL. 69 

tion, and the attempt was acknowledged to be a fail- 
ure. The minister who instigated and defended co- 
ercion was thrown over; the Lord-Lieutenant who 
enforced it was asked to resign; the whole policy was 
abandoned, and every amendment which the Land 
League had put forward was practically admitted in 
principle. And in return all that Mr. Parnell agreed 
to do was to withdraw the "No Rent" manifesto; 
to accept his own release at the hands of government, 
and to name such among the suspects as, if released, 
would be influential in discountenancing outrages. 

On May 4 Messrs. Parnell, Dillon and O'Kelly ap- 
peared in their places in Parliament, and here they 
were greeted in such a manner as to prove the belief 
general that their release from prison was an Irish 
victory, former enemies even congratulating them on 
the event. Sir Charles Dilke was effusive in his con- 
gratulations, and lie gave the Irish leader a hearty 
shake of the hand in view of the whole house; so did 
Mr. Shaw, and so did many others of doubtful friend- 
ship or known hostility, and Mr. Parnell was the hero 
of the hour. 

While still celebrating this great triumph, and 
hopefully looking forward to the new and better era 
that seemed about to dawn, all Ireland and, indeed, 
the world, were shocked by the news of the assassin- 
ation of Lord Frederick Cavendish, the new Chief 
Secretary for Ireland, and Mr. Burke, the Under Sec- 
retary, which took place in Phoenix Park, Dublin, in 
the vicinity of the vice-regal lodge, in broad day- 
light, on May 6; and with the news of that terrible 
event the bright hopes which so many had begun to 
cherish crumbled away again. 

It would be too painful a task to go into the de- 
tails of the terrible event. The murderers escaped 
and were not discovered for a long time afterwards, 
but the effects of their deed struck Ireland with dis- 
may and aroused an intense anti-Irish feeling in 
England. In one hour almost the position of Mr. 



"70 LIFE AND SEEVICES OF 

Parnell was reversed, and he sank from a position of 
omnipotence to one of absolute and apparently irre- 
trievable disaster. For a few days the Irish party 
had sailed on the highest crest of the wave, and in a 
breath it was once more in the deepest trough of the 
sea. 

Mr. Gladstone had now a noble opportunity for 
conciliating Ireland if he. had taken advantage of it, 
but, great man as he undoubtedly is, he was not 
equal to the demands of the occasion. After the 
Phoenix Park assassinations the people of Ireland 
were in such a frame of mind that had the govern- 
ment trusted to their honor and gone on with its 
remedial legislation, relying upon the ordinary laws 
for the suppression of crime, an era of peace and 
good feeling between rulers and people would al- 
most certainly have followed. But instead of rising 
to the height of the occasion, Mr. Gladstone weakly 
listened to the counsels of the coercionists and pro- 
ceeded to punish a nation for the act of a few crazy 
fanatics — notwithstanding the fact that the nation 
universally reprobated that act. 

In accordance with this determination, Mr. Glad- 
stone gave notice in Parliament of his intention to 
introduce the Crimes Act of 1882 — a measure more 
drastic in its severity than any previous act of the 
kind. 

The Parnellltes, of course, detei'mined to oppose 
the bill in every way possible and the fight which 
they made against it was conducted with as much 
zeal, and even greater skill, than that against coercion 
in 1880. The obstruction v/as scarcely ever open or 
palpable, but, none the less, the progress of the 
measure was exceedingly slow. Large numbers of 
amendments were put upon the paper which afforded 
excellent opportunities for dilatory debate and some 
of these the government was driven to accept. Day 
after day passed without any perceptible advance 
being made with the bill, and the government at last 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 11 

resorted once again to its favorite system of relays. 
Then followed an all-night session and close upon it 
came Speaker Playfair's coup cfhtat and the with- 
drawal of the Irish members from the House. 

A few days after this master stroke the govern- 
ment found itself in a dilemma and would be glad of 
the assistance of the Irish members to enable them 
to extricate themselves. The ministry had under- 
taken to confine the searches for arms under the 
Crimes Act to the daytime and to modify the bill 
in that respect, but the temper of the House was op- 
posed to the change and it was insisted by the 
opposition that the clause should stand as it was 
originally. In this demand the Whigs and Radicals 
were as firm as the Tories, and, with these combined 
forces against them, it was seen that the ministers 
would be defeated. Mr. Gladstone lent excitement 
to the occasion by a declaration which was inter- 
preted as a threat of resignation in case of an adverse 
vote. The Irish members occupied one of the side 
galleries and from this position they looked calmly 
down on the stormy scene. Without their aid the 
government could not hope to carry their point and 
many imploring looks were cast up at them from the 
Liberal benches, and one of Mr. Gladstone's hench- 
men actually asked Mr. Sexton to come to his aid, but 
the member for Sligo respectfully declined the invi- 
tation. The vote was taken and the government 
were defeated, but Mr. Gladstone did not put his 
threat to resign into execution. The Crimes Act was 
passed at last in its most stringent form and receiving 
the Royal assent on July 12, 1882, it became a law. 

The one legislative measure passed at this session 
which can be said to be beneficial to Ireland was the 
Arrear of Rents Act, which Mr. Parnell had drafted 
while in Kilraainham, and which the government had 
agreed to adopt. This bill was introduced on May 15 
and was really one of the most important concessions 
to Ireland since Catholic emancipation. For the 



t2 LIFE AND LIEKVICES OF 

first time in the history of the country a British 
government made use of the national exchequer, not 
to coerce Irishmen, nor to make loans which the 
needy bori'ower would find it hard to repay, but to 
make a free gift to men whose sufferings were un- 
avoidable and undeserved. The measure contained 
in an improved form those features which were con- 
sidered necessary for the beneficial working of the 
Land Act of 1881, but which were stricken out of 
that bill by the landlord interest in the House of 
Lords. By those who understood the Irish land ques- 
tion a remission of arrears had always been pro- 
claimed an essential, without which all curative legis- 
lation would necessai'ily prove abortive. The pre- 
tended object of the land acts of 1870 and 1881 was 
to put a stop to evictions, but it was idle to hope to 
accomplish this while the smaller farmers, for uhose 
benefit the legislation was mainly devised, remained 
in arrears and subject, therefore, to ejectment. Neither 
of the acts had curbed the power of the landlords to 
evict for arrears, and in that respect the act of 1881 
was particularly blameworthy. The arrears bill not 
only tended to put a stop to evictions, but it brought 
succor and redress to those who had been evicted 
during the six months preceding its passage. Very 
many tenants were in arrears for five, eiglit and, in 
some cases, fifteen years, but under the bill it did not 
matter if the tenant owed the landlord rent for twenty 
years, the latter was in no case to receive more than 
two years rental ; and of those two the tenant ueuCi 
pay but one, the government assuming the payment 
of the other. Nor for these two years was the land- 
lord to receive the rack-rents fixed by himself. He 
was to be paid accordingto Griffiths' valuation which 
was made some 40 years ago. The tenant had, fur- 
thermore, until July, 1883, in which to tender liis one 
year's rent according to Grifliths' valuation, on pay- 
ment of which all arrears, no matter how long accu- 
mulated, would be cancelled forever. Moreover, any 



CHARLES STEWART PARXELL. IS 

money paid as rent during the year 1881 was held, 
under the hill, to be paid on account of that year 
and not on account of previous years during which 
no rent had been paid, and the law was applicable 
to all tenants paying less than £30 a year upon 
Griffiths' valuation ; that is to say, to the great mass 
of the Irish peasantry. The claims of the Irish land- 
lords were computed as high as £17,000,000, and 
never placed below £10,000,000. Of this large 
sum they were to get, under the bill, only £4,000,000, 
one-half from the tenants and the other half from tlie 
government, the government portion to be drawn prin- 
cipally from the Irish Church Surplus Fund. 

The Arrears bill and the Crimes bill were the main 
legislative enactments of the session, although it had 
beeii largely intended for English legislation. As it 
was the English bills were nearly all dropped or never 
introduced at all, the whole time of Parliament being 
engrossed by matters relating to Ireland. The sitting- 
was fittingly closed by the carrying through of the 
Cloture and the new rules. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE IRISH NATIONAL LEAGUE 

THE ARREST OF THE INVINCIBLES AND THE 

CARET REVELATIONS. 

There had been no public meetings in Ireland since 
the proclamation of the Land League, even members 
of Parliament being prevented from addressing their 
constituents, but in the recess of 1882 Mr. Parnell 
undertook the task of reorganizing the people. In 
October a great conference was called in the Antient 
Concert Rooms in Dublin and the Irish National 
League was inaugurated to succeed the proclaimed 
Land League. The conf ei'ence was one of the largest 
ever held in Dublin and its deliberations were marked 



74 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

by an ardor and earnestness that augured well for the 
success of the new movement. The galleries were filled 
with clergymen, ladies and prominent laymen, and 
among those seated on the platform were the Lord 
Mayor ; Justin McCarthv, M. P. ; E. D. Gray, M. P. ; 
Michael Davitt ; Thomas Sexton, M. P. ; J. E. Red- 
mond, M. P. ; T. P. O'Connor, M. P. ; T. M. Healy, 
M. P. ; J. Daly, M. P. ; J. G. Bi^jgar, M. P. ; James 
Leahy, M. P. ; Philip Callan, MTp. ; William Cor- 
hctt, M. p. ; G. Byrne, M. P. ; Edmund Leamy, 
M. p. ; R. A. Metge, M. P. ; Richard Power, M. P. ; 
T. D. Sullivan, M. P. ; Thomas Brennan ; R, Lalor, 
M. P. ; H. J. Gill, M. P. ; E. Shiel, M. P. and others. 
Mr. Parnell presided and in a temperate and states- 
manlike speech reviewed the work of the Land 
League and explained the programme of the new 
organization, whose constitution as proposed con- 
tained five leading features, namely: (1) national 
self-government, defined as the restitution to the Irish 
people of the right to manage their own afl'airs in a 
Parliament elected by the people ; (2) land law 
reform, including the creation of an occupying owner- 
ship or peasant proprietory, by an amendment of the 
purchase clauses of the Land act of 1881 so as to 
secure the advance by the State of the whole of the 
purchase money, and the extension of the period of 
repayment to 63 years ; the transfer by compulsory 
purchase to county boards of all land not cultivated 
by the owners and not in the occupation of tenants, 
for resale and reletting to laborers or small farmers 
in plots of grazing commonage ; protection from the 
imposition of rent on improvements made by the ten- 
ant or his predecessor in title, to be effected by an 
amendment to the Healy clause of the Land act of 
1881 ; the admission of leaseholders and other ex- 
cluded classes to all the benefits of the Land act, 
with other amendments such as the admission of oc- 
cupiers of town parks to the benefits of the Land act, 
the fixing of the judicial rent from the date of appli- 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 'jd 

cation, etc. ; (3) local pelf-governmont, by the crea- 
tion of county boards and the transfer to those 
boards of the fiscal and administrative powers of 
grand juries — the boards to be elected in a representa- 
tive system ; the abolition of the principle of nomi- 
nation by government to membership of the following 
boards : The local government board, the board of 
works, the general valuation and boundary survey, 
the board of national education, the reformatory 
and industrial school boards, the prisons board and 
the fishery board, with several minor provisions such 
as transfer to the county boards of the management 
of the union workhouses, lunatic asylums and other 
such institutions, winding up with a demand for the 
abolition of the office of lord lieutenant of Ireland ; (4) 
extension of the Parliamentary and municipal fran- 
chises and their assimilation to those of England ; 
(5) the development and encouragement of the labor 
and industrial interests of Ireland by obtaining sej^a- 
rate legislation to elevate the condition of the agri- 
cultm*al laborers and encouraging co-operation in the 
movement for fostering Irish industries by appoint- 
ing an industrial committee of shop-keepers, artisans 
and farmers, with proportional representation, to 
assist in the work of revival. Such, in brief, were 
the main points in the constitution of the Irish 
National League. Mr. Parnell was unanimou.^ly 
chosen president of the organization and at the clothe 
of its deliberations he set actively to work organizing, 
so that before the new year opened branches of tlic 
League were flourishing all over the island. 

A cheering incident in the record of 1882 in Ire- 
land — otherwise dismal enough — was the great In- 
dustrial Exhibition, which was held in Dublin, to 
promote the manufacturing industry and energy of 
the Irish people. The Exhibition was gotten up 
under the auspices of the people themselves, and was 
absolutely independent of all Castle influence. The 
opening day was chosen for the unveiling of the 



76 LIFE AND SEKVICES OP 

noblo monument to O'Connell on O'Connell street. 
There was an immense procession through miles and 
m.iles of crowded streets, and all Dublin attended the 
celebration except the lord lieutenant, Earl Spencer, 
and his officials. The Exhibition lasted several weeks 
and was a grand success. It is not too much to say- 
that it gave an impulse to industry througliout the 
country, from Blarney to Belleek, though its imme- 
diate results were slight as compared with the lesson 
of self-reliance it taught the people. 

The year 1883 began under circumstances that 
once again shrouded Ireland's hopes in the deepest 
gloom. A large number of arrests had been made for 
complicity in the Phoenix Park assassinations, and 
these were shortly followed by the revelations of 
James Carey, one of the prisoners and a to"WTi coun- 
cillor of the city of Dublin. By his own confession 
this man was a very monster of wickedness. Under 
the garb of a devout Catholic who approached his 
duties regularly he was continually meditating and 
committing crime, and on the day after the Phoenix 
Park affair he had the moral hardihood to address a 
letter of condolence to Miss Burke, a sister of one of 
the victims. He was the leader of the band of In- 
vincibles, and the killing of the secretaries was 
accomplished undec liis direction. He it was who 
planned the deed; and if he did not actually wield 
the knives that caused the deaths he selected the men 
that did wield them, drove with them to the place of 
the murder, and signaled to them the approach of the 
persons marked for doom. He received gold for his 
work, but it was made clear from the evidence at the 
trials that his followers were actuated solely by mis- 
taken notions of patriotism. They were ignorant and 
misguided men, influenced by a depraved and dis- 
torted sense of what in their minds was justice, and 
what in their judgment was good for the Ireland which 
they loved and her enemies whom they hated, and 
they staked their lives unselfishly in reckless dcsper- 



CHAELES STEWAKT PAENELL. 77 

ation upon tlie deed. There is no lessening of their 
guilt ill this, or palliation of the foul crime in which 
they imbued their hands, but their guilt had at least 
more to excuse it than had that of the villain who, 
by playing upon their patriotic feelings, had incited 
them to the commission of the deed and then basely 
betrayed them in the hope of saving his own misera- 
ble life. There is no necessity of going over the de- 
tails of the trials here. It is enough to say that five 
of the Invincibles paid the penalty for their crime 
with their lives and several others were given long 
terms of imprisonment. Carey himself, although the 
greatest criminal of all, was given his liberty in con- 
sideration of his services as informer, and he was fur- 
nished with funds by government to betake himself 
out of the country. He went first to England under 
police protection, and then with his family he took 
passage for South Africa; but the doom of the in- 
former sought him out, and he was recognized and 
shot down by an Irish fellow-passenger named James 
O'Donnell just as the vessel reached port. O'Donnell 
was arrested for the act and brought back to Eng- 
land, where he was tried, convicted and executed, all 
in the course of a few months. 

The Phoenix Park murders were divested of all the 
attributes of vulgar crime, and were marked by the 
rank and position of the victims and the reckless 
daring of the deed itself, but they were not the only 
murders that occurred in Ireland during 1882. Al- 
most every month of the year was marked with 
blood. Beginning with the murder of the Huddys 
and going down through the massacre of Maamtrasna, 
the killing of Mr. Herbert, the unfortunate slaying 
of Mrs. Smythe, the shooting of Mr. Blake at Lough- 
rea and of Mi-. Bourke and his soldier escort at Ar- 
drahan, the Castle Island murder, the shooting of 
Doloughty, the murder of the policeman for whose 
life that of young Walsh was taken, the Dublin 
tragedies of Skipper's alley, Seville place and other 



18 LIFE AND SERVICES OP 

by-ways; the deadly affair in Abbey street and the 
stabbing of Mr. Field — all these prove that Ireland 
was passing through a crisis most extraordinary and 
alai'ining, full of horror and of shame. 

But it was a horror and shame for which England, 
not Ireland, was responsible. The crimes were a di- 
rect and natural result of methods of misgovern- 
ment which gave men no choice but to tamely sub- 
mit to great wrongs or to take the law into their own 
hands. The nation was bending beneath the weight 
of great social and political grievances, and the people 
were forbidden by law even to give voice to the ills 
from which they suffered. Peaceable measures for 
redress were prohibited ; repression and coercion 
reigned. The Land League, which advocated consti- 
tutional action, was proclaimed. The natural vent of 
agitation was closed, and, under the circumstances, it 
is not strange that the more desperate spirits had re- 
course to secret societies, and that the hedge assassin 
and the secret dagger took the place of the platform 
agitator. 

And the manner in which the law was administered 
in the courts was not such as to reassure a people or 
make them respect the system of government under 
which they lived. The judges and prosecutors went 
to shameful lengths in order to obtain convictions — 
for it was convictions and not justice they sought to 
obtain. Juries were packed in the most open and 
reprehensible fashion, and Catholics were almost en- 
tirely excluded from serving upon them. The panels 
were made up almost altogether of creatures of the 
Castle and of Orangemen who could be depended 
upon to decide against the hapless prisoners. The 
jury which tried Francis Hynes for murder during 
that year stayed out all night and passed the time in 
drinking and carousing, the quantity of liquors and 
porter ordered for their use being so large as to jus- 
tify the opinion that the jurymen were all drunk 
when they came to a verdict of guilty. The Freeman's 



CUAKLES STEWART PARNELL. 79 

Journal exposed this jiuy by publishing the bill for 
liquors in detail, and tliereby created a great sensa- 
tion. Mr. Gray, the editor and proprietor of the 
Freeman, was at tlie time the high sheriff of Dublin, 
and, therefore, an officer of the courts himself. This 
fact gave his article the greater weight. The truth 
of his charges could not be successfully disputed, and 
anybody would suppose that on the strength of them 
the court would immediately annul the verdict and 
administer a sound rebuke to the jurymen, but such 
was not the case. Instead of doing this Judge Law- 
son proceeded at once to impose a heavy fine and a 
term of impi-isonment upon Mr. Gray for contempt 
of court in discovering the secrets of the jury-room, 
while the verdict was allowed to stand as rendered. 
Such action on the part of a judge who held his posi- 
tion ostensibly to see that the laws were properly and 
justly enforced was surely not calculated to inspire 
the confidence or the respect of the people. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

FORSTER's attack upon MR. PARNELL — THE IRISH 
leader's speech in REPLY. 

It was to be expected that the English press would 
make the most of Carey's revelations, especially that 
part of them in which the arch-informer labored to 
show — it is believed at the instigation of the govern- 
ment — that his assassination society had been con- 
nected with and aided by the Land League. 

Among the men suggested by Mr. Parnell in the 
Kilmainham treaty as likely to be of aid in putting 
down outrages in Ireland, were Mr. Davitt, Mr. 
Boyton and P. J. Sheridan ; all of whom had been 
hard workers in tlie League cause. At the trials in 
Dublin, Carey made statements vaguely tending to 
connect Sheridan and an English leaguer named Frank 



80 LIFE AND SEBVICES OF 

Byrne and his wife xnth the Invincihles, and although 
his statements were not supported by any evidence, 
direct or otherwise, they were at once accepted by 
the anti-Nationahsts of all classes as gospel truth, 
and on the day following tliat upon which Carey's evi- 
dence was given the landlord newspapers in England 
and Ireland teemed with fierce denunciations against 
Mr. Parnell and his fellow ofiicers in the late Land 
League, and accused them of being the allies and 
employers of murderers. 

It mattered not to these jouraals that there was 
no proof against the Irish leaders, and that the case 
against them at the best was only an inferential one, 
and was not credited by any but those whose inclina- 
tions led them to believe everything that was ill of 
Ii'eland and Irishmen. Mr. Sheridan was in America 
at the time of the trials, but he forwarded to Ireland 
the most emphatic denials of Carey's statement impli- 
cating him. Mrs. Byrne was arrested in London and 
taken to Dublin, where she was confronted by Carey, 
who, however, was unable to identify her as the per- 
son who had supplied the Invincihles with weapons, 
as he had previously charged, and the effort to throw 
discredit on the Irish popular movement, and dis- 
grace and guilt upon its leaders, ended in a signal 
failure. 

A few English papers were fair enough to acknowl- 
edge this, and the J)aily JVews-puhVishGd an article on 
the subject, which is worth quoting as a vindication 
of the character of the Irish leaders at the hands of the 
enemy. The JVews said: "The whole of the active 
operations of the assassins were planned, with the 
exception of the Phoenix Park assassinations, were 
executed, or unsuccessfully attempted, while Mr. 
Parnell, Mr, Dillon, and the other Irish leaders were 
2>risoners in Kilmainham. Mr. Parnell was arrested 
on the t3th of October, 1881, Mr. Dillon ten days later. 
The inner circle, according to Mr. Carey's evidence, 
was founded in the following November, when 



CHARLES STEWART PAENELL. 81 

Walsh visited Carey and enrolled liim among tiie 
'Invincibles.' In the same month the first money, 
£50, which the Dnhlin directory received from the 
outside, was given to them. In February, 1882, the 
determination to murder Mr. Forster, Lord Cowper 
and Mr. Burke was arrived at. On March 3, the firtt 
arrangement was made for disposing of Mr, Forster. 
The murder of Mr. Burke determined on in Novem- 
ber, 1881, was perfected May 6, 1882. On May 2, 
Mr. Parnell, Mr. Dillon and Mr. O'Kelly were re- 
leased from Kilmainham, and they took their seats in 
the House on the 4th. During the entire period, 
therefore, of the operations of the Dublin murder 
league, Mr. Parnell was apparently secluded from 
Irish polities," 

English statesmen, however, were not so candid as 
the Daily JSTevs, and they made the most unscrupu- 
lous use of the Carey revelations to weaken the Irish 
cause. In parliament Mr. Gorst moved an amend- 
ment to the address in reply to the speech from the 
Throne, to the effect that, in view of the disclosures 
which had taken place in Dublin, no further compro- 
mise should be made with the Irish party, and Mr. 
Forster, who owed his dismissal from the office of 
Chief Secretary of Ireland to the influence of Mr. 
Parnell, recognized in the revelations the instrument 
by which he could be revenged upon his great enemy. 
On February 22 Mr. Forster made a speech in which 
he mercilessly arraigned the Irish leader. It was a 
direct and measured accusation of connivance at as- 
sassination and the perpetration of outrages, and it 
was delivered with unsparing and vindictive force. 
He charged Mr. Parnell with responsibility for 
the utterances of the Irish World published in 
America, and he claimed that the heading "Incidents 
of the Campaign," over the list of outrages in United 
Ireland, of which Mr. Parnell was one of the proprie- 
tors, was a direct incitement to lawlessness. The 
speech was frequently interrrupted by cheers from 



82 LIFE AND SEI.VICES OF 

the English benches, and they were so hearty and 
unanimous as to leave no doubt that ho had the sym- 
pathy of the greater part of his audience. When he 
reached the climax of his accusation Mr. Parnell, wlio 
otherwise sat quietly through it all, gave him the lie 
direct, and Mr. O'Kelly, tlie member for Roscommon, 
kept on vociferating that he lied until the Speaker 
"named" him, and, under the new rules, suspended 
him for a week. When Mr. Forster had concluded, 
every eye in the House was turned expectantly to 
Mr. Parnell, and the scene was one of the most stir- 
ring that the House had witnessed for a long time. 
Everybody was curious to hear what the member for 
Cork would say to Mr. Forster's charges, but the mem- 
ber for Cork did not make any reply, at least on that 
evening, and the House adjourned with its curiosity 
still uugratified. 

On the next evening, Feb. 23, in rising to resume 
the debate on the address, Mr. Parnell took occasion 
to answer the ex-chief secretary's attack in a calm 
and dignified speech that elicited praise even from 
his enemies. He told the House that he did not 
speak from the belief that anything he could say 
would have the slighest effect upon the public opin- 
ion of England. All he wanted to do, he said, was 
to make his position clear to the Irish people at home 
and abroad, and in their eyes to clear it from the 
unjust aspersions of a man who ought to have been 
ashamed to have devoted his high abilities to the 
task of traducing him. He reviewed Mr. Forster's 
speech briefly and repudiated in detail the charges 
therein made. He denied that he was in any way 
responsible for the utterances of the IrisJi World 
newspaper, and asserted that he did not even read it, 
and he showed that the heading from United Ireland^ 
cited by Mr. Forster, was only used while its editor, 
Mr. William O'Brien, the member for Mallow, and 
most of its staff were in prison, where they were not 
allowed even to see the paper, and that immediately 



CnAELES STEWAET TAKNELL. 83 

upon l^Ir. O'Brien's release the lieading disappeared. 
Speaking of the evidence which, it was charged, 
tended to throw suspicion upon some members of 
the Land League in connection with the Invincibles, 
and the garbled accounts of the same given bj the 
Dublin correspondents of the London papers, Mi'. 
Parnell said : 

" Now, sir, the statements which were made in that 
direction were made by the approver Carey. They 
are statements not of fact, but of belief. They are 
three in number. Carey swore as a fact that lie had 
met a person in the garb of a priest, and that he was 
introduced to him as Father Murpliy ; that this man 
informed him that he was going into the country to 
form a branch of the Invincible organization, and 
that he (Carey) was afterwards informed (he did not 
say who by) that this Father Murphy was Mr. Sheri- 
dan. Secondly, he swore that some amongst his com- 
rades believe that the money came from America, 
and others from the Land League. This is a state- 
ment of opinion. I do not comment on it, but merely 
quote it to inform the House what it was, and I should 
be perfectly satisfied to allow them to draw their own 
conclusions. Thirdly, the man has sworn that the 
woman he was informed was Mrs. Byrne, the wife of 
the secretary of the English Land League confedera- 
tion, had brought him some weapous. This too, is 
hearsay evidence. These statements of Carey would 
not be possible in an ordinary case, if it were not one 
of conspiracy, and if he had not sworn that he heard 
these statements from some of the persons who are 
charged with being participators in the conspiracy. 
Now, the third statement, that the woman who 
brought the weapons was Mrs. Byrne, has already 
been abundantly disproved. She was brought over 
from England to Dublin. Carey failed to identify 
her, and she was discharged by the detective depart- 
ment with public apologies. The second statement, 
as to the source from which the money came, in 'the 



84 LIFE A2<D SERVICES OF 

opinions of his comrades seems to rest on the fact, 
which I am perfectly ready to admit, and which I be- 
lieve to be true, that some of these men got checks 
for the support of their families from the sustenta- 
tion fund, while they were in prison. Those checks 
were sent to hundreds and hundreds of families 
throughout the country. It was an ordinary custom 
of the sustentation fund to give money to the families 
of all the prisoners, and tlie money was very often 
sent through the yjrisoners themselves to the families 
of prisoners deprived of the ordinary means of sup- 
port by the imprisonment of the bread winner ; and 
I believe that evidence will be produced to show that 
Edward M'Caffery, one of the prisoners, actually 
sent back his clieck to the Ladies' Land League, on 
the ground that he did not sympathize with its ob- 
ject, that he knew nothing of it, and that he had, 
thei'efore, no right to share the sustentation fund ; 
and thought it most unjust that the Ladies' Land 
League should send checks to men not affiliated with 
that organization. It is strange that a few solitary 
instances, amongst hundreds of families throughout 
the country, should be put forward to justify the 
suspicion of the Land League having found money 
for the Phoenix Park assassination. 

" Then, as to Sheridan, a statement has been made 
and circulated that I offered the services of Mr. Sheri- 
dan to the British government to put down the out- 
rages in the west of Ireland, because I considered 
him a fit person for the work, since he knew the de- 
tails of those outrages. This is based on the cabinet 
memorandum which the right honorable gentleman 
says he furnished to his colleagues, and which they 
had full possession of when they decided to release 
the suspects ; but it is desiiable to point out for the 
information of the English public that the right 
honorable gentleman is coatiadicted as to the cabinet 
memorandum and the statements on which it is based 
by the member for Clare. The honorable member 



CHA.RLES STEWART PARNELL. 85 

for Clare wrote to the London newspapers on the 
18th of May last, the day following the publication 
of the cabinet secret by the right honorable gentle- 
man," 

Mr. Parnell then read the letter in question, in 
which Mr. O'Sliea said that he had mentioned to Mr. 
Forster the names, not only of Sheridan, but of 
Davitt, Boyton and others, and Mr. Parnell then 
proceeded: "Therefore, a question of great importance 
as to a matter of fact has arisen between the right 
honorable member for Bradford and the member for 
Clare. It is remarkable that the right honorable gen- 
tleman should not have mentioned the other names in 
his cabinent memorandum. Mr. Davitt was released 
immediately afterwards, owing to the representations 
which were made by the honorable member for Clai'e. 
Why was Mr. Davitt not included in this communi- 
cation? Why was not Boyton included in the 
cabinet memorandum? He had left Ireland imme- 
diately after his release, and it was known that he 
could not return to Ireland without being rearrested. 
Why was not Mr. Egan's name included in the cabinet 
memorandum ? Why was only Mr. Sheridan's name 
selected to make it out that it was privy to the out- 
rages? I leave these questions to be answered by 
members who have a better knowledge of what 
actually passed than I have. I hope their significance 
will be considered and pondered on by the House. 

" The right honorable gentleman has asked me to 
defend myself. I have nothing to defend myself 
against. The right honorable gentleman has con- 
fessed that he attempted to obtain a declaration and 
public promise from me which should have the effect, 
had I given it, of discrediting me with the Irish peo- 
ple. He has admitted that he failed in that attempt, 
and failing in it he lost his own position. He boasted 
last night that he had deposed me from some imagin- 
ary position he is pleased to assign to me. But I 
have this consolation ; we both fell into the ditch. I 



86 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

do not think that in the business of pulling ourseives 
out I have suffered so much in the opinion of my 
countrymen as the right honorable gentleman has 
suffered in the opinion of his. Yes ; the right 
honorable gentleman has deposed me from my posi- 
tion as a prominent Irish politician ; I admit that he 
has been very successful in that. . I have taken very 
little part in Irish politics since my release. I ex- 
pressed my reason for that after the passing of the 
crimes act. I said that, in my judgment, the crimes 
act would result in such a state of affairs that between 
the government and the criminals there it would be 
impossible to find a place for constitutional agitation. 
I believe so still. Here is the last item of news which 
was published in the journal of yesterday. It is that 
Mr. Patrick Ford, of the Irish World, w^ho used to 
collect money to send to the Land League, is now 
collecting for a very different purpose. The right 
honorable gentleman may be proud of his work. I 
regi'et it. J look with aj^prehension to the future re- 
lations between England and Ireland. I see that it is 
impossible to stem the current of jDrejudice which 
has arisen during the last few days. I regret that 
the officials charged with the administration of this 
crimes act are uniit for their post. I am sure the 
present chief secretary to the lord lieutenant must 
admit that to the fullest extreme. I feel that the 
present secretary to the lord lieutenant must say of 
his predecessor, in the language of scripture, ' I am 
not worthy to loose his shoe latchct.' It would have 
been far better if you were going to jjass an act of 
tliis kind to have had it administered by the seasoned 
politician now in disgrace. Call him back to his 
post, send him to help Lord Spencer in the congenial 
work of the gallows in Ireland, send hiin to look after 
the secret negotiations of Dublin Castle, send him to 
superintend the payment of blood money, send him 
to distribute the taxes which an unfortunate and 
starving peasantry have to pay for crimes not com- 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 87 

mitted by them. All this would be congenial woi-k 
to the right honorable gentleman. 

'• We invite you to man yourselves to send your 
ablest and best men to push forward the task of mis- 
governing and oppressing Ireland. For my own part I 
am confident as to the future of Ireland. Though the 
horizon may now seem cloudy, I believe her people will 
survive the present oppression, as they have survived 
many worse ones. Although our progress may be 
slow, it will be sure. The time will come when the 
people of this country will admit once again that 
they have been mistaken and have been deceived — 
that they have been led asti-ny as to the right way of 
governing a noble, a brave and an impulsive people — 
and that they will reject their present guides and 
leaders with just as much determination as they re- 
jected the services of the right honorable gentleman 
the member for Bradford." 

This sharp wordy encounter created great excite- 
ment in political circles and for a few days it was the 
talk of the town. Irishmen everywhere were much 
pleased with Mr. Parnell's speech — especially its 
defiant tone — and one effect of it was an immediate 
;ind decided strengthening of his hold upon the affec- 
tions and confidence of his couufcrymLU. 

Some little time before this it had been announced 
in the newspapers that the ancient patrimony of the 
Parnells in Wicklow was to be sold under the ham- 
mer for debt and that Mr. Parnell was unable to 
redeem it. This now afforded the people an oppor- 
tunity to make an effective answer to Mr. Forstcr's 
charges and at the same time to testify in a substan- 
tial way their gratitude for the splendid benefits 
which Mr. Parnell had conferred upon Ireland during 
his political career, and they took advantage of it by 
presenting him with a national offering. Archbishop 
Thomas W. Croke of Cashel gave a start to the 
movement by a letter to the Dviblin Freeman and a 
subscription of £50, and it proceeded with rapidity 



88 LIFE AND SERVICES OP 

until it reached tlie magnificent eumof £38,000, when 
it was presented to the Irish leader at a banquet 
given in his honor in Dublin, 



CHAPTER XIV. 

AN ATTEMPT AT DESCRIPTION OF MR. PAR^ELl's 
QUALITIES AS A LEADER AND THE CHARACTER AND 
COMPOSITION OF THE LAND AND NATIONAL LEAGUE 
MOVEMENTS. 

This is perhaps the place to observe that the open- 
ing remarks of Mr. Parnell in his reply to W. E. 
Forster give the key to the extraordinary hold which 
he undoubtedly has upon the affections and the confi- 
dence of the Irish people; " I assure tlie House — and 
though it is not, perhaps, a very respectful assurance, 
T make it with the greatest respect — I assure the 
House that I do not expect that anything I can say 
will have the slightest effect upon the public opinion 
of England. The utmost that I desire to do is to 
make my position clear to the Irish people at home 
and abroad." 

• These two sentences contain in a nutshell the plan 
of Mr, Parnell's career, so to speak, and the secret of 
his success. Ireland and the Irish people are with 
him above and before everything else. It is 
for Ireland that he thinks ; for Ireland that he speaks; 
for Ireland that he struggles, and not for Ireland as 
an integral part of the British Empire, but for Ire- 
land individually and alone. With him Irish interests 
are above English interests ; Irish desires are before 
English desires. He is pre-eminently the representa- 
tive of Ireland, and though his position compels him 
to acknowledge himself a subject of the Queen his 
whole career exemplifies the singleness of his devo- 
tion to his native land. His interests and those of 
the Irish people are one. In his eyes all T\^bo impede 



CIIMT.KS STEWART PAENELL. 89 

the progress or prevent the prosperity of tlie Irish 
nation are enemies to be opjjosed to the utmost, and 
he opposes them with the only effective weapon at 
his oom-mand. Ireland is the shrine at whit-h he wor- 
ships, and the object of his ambition is to confer 
upon her people a government of their own — by 
themselves and for themselves. 

And it is because the Irish people realize this — be- 
cause they know that Mr. Parnell's desires are identi- 
cal with their desires, and that in his aims and objects 
he has at heart only the betterment of their cojidition 
politically and socially — that they support him so loy- 
ally and so unanimously. 

And their's is not an ignorant following. They 
see in this man, first and above all else, that he is 
essentially Irish, and next that he is a disinterested and 
capable leader, who has a thorough acquaintance 
with the ills from which their country languishes and 
who has the will and — with their help — the ability 
to remedy them. Knowing these things Vaqj cannot 
help but regard him with sentiments of love and 
gratitude and fealty and hope. 

TJie movement of which Mr.Parnell is the head is very 
different from those of which O'Connell was the leader, 
in that the people composing it are different. In the 
agitation for Catholic Emancipation, and later, in the 
struggle for Repeal, the mass of the Irish people 
were ignorant — comj^ulsorily so, under existing 
British laws — and it was at the heart that O'Connell's 
appeals were aimed, rather than at the head. He 
found it necessary to instruct in order to arouse. lie 
moved the hearts of the people by the pathetic story 
of their country's wrongs, and he fired their im.agina- 
tions by the pictures which he drew of that country's 
future, if they would but follow and obey him. His 
eloquence thrilled them; his ability encouraged them; 
his audacity invigorated and his zeal iiispii-! d them. 
Of those movements O'Connell was tho soul. The 
Catholic Association was his creation and his creature. 



GO LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

It was his brain that conceived it ; his mind that 
directed and controlled it; liis hand that nourished, 
and his eye tliat jealously guarded the organization 
until it grew from infantile to gigantic proportion-^. 
The Irish people followed him blindl}^, and — it is no 
detraction to them to say — without knowing hardly 
what they were to achieve, or how they were to 
achieve it. They followed him because he told them 
to do so. "Put your feet in my tracks," he used to 
say, " and the hand of the law can never touch you." 
They had confidence in him as an able and dextf'rous 
lawyer, and they obeyed his behests without ques- 
tion. 

But the people of O'ConnelTstime could not gauge 
the progress or the policy of his movement Avitli any 
degree of accuracy ; their only knowledge was ob- 
tained from the ispeeches that fell from his lips. The 
newspaper was not so common in Ireland then as it 
is at present, and, if it had been, the great majority 
of O'Connell's followers would be unable to read it. 
The masses did not know what they were striving 
for, except in a vague and general way, but they had 
confidence in O'Counell, and it was enough that he 
told them to strive. They had implicit trust in his 
promises, and in his capacity, and the great tribune 
amply justified that trust by his achievements. 
Through his exertions Catholic emancipation was 
accomplished, and a people were aroused from a con- 
dition of intellectual and political torpitude to one of 
manly activity. 

The struggle for Repeal was conducted on the same 
lines as the Catholic agitation. In the former, as in 
the latter, the potent personality of O'Connell filled 
up the eye. One movement had freedom of con- 
science as its object ; the other had self-government. 
Both movements were patriotic, and, from the stand- 
point of O'Connell, Shiel, the priests, the Young Ire- 
landers and a few others, both could be said to be 
enlightened ; but, from the standpoint of the people, 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 91 

only the first was true. O'Connell planned, and they 
blindly, dumbly executed. 

The condition of the people among whom the Land 
movement was started was infinitely superior, with 
respect to education, to that of the people in O'Con- 
nell's day. Ireland has made great strides in educa- 
tional progress since then, and her schools now are 
more largely attended, in proportion to population, 
even than those o"^ the United States. Able news- 
papers are published in abundance too, and the doc- 
trines promulgated by them are almost exclusively 
National. The history of the country — its ancient 
glories; its conquest; its wrongs and its rights — are 
graven deeply in the minds and memories of nearly 
every adult son and daughter, and the patriotic senti- 
ments which were formerly entertained by the j^eople 
because of a vague belief that God intended them 
to be free, have been strengthened and intensified by 
the knowledge acquired by education. It is a fact, 
in itself strikingly demonstrative of the incongruity 
of enlightenment and serfdom, that correspondingly 
as the Irish people gained in intelligence they grew 
in National sentiment. 

The Catholic agitation was started among a popu- 
lation more or less servile and almost wholly unedu- 
cated, but the movement of the last five years (for 
the Land League movement and the National League 
movement are practically one, the last being the com- 
plement and amplification of the first) had its birth 
and flourishes among an intelligent, an energetic and 
an industrious people. 

The Land movement was a voluntary union of in- 
dividuals suffering under unjust and oppressive laws, 
who combined in a determined and comprehensive 
efi^ort to break the shackles which held them down. 
The movement had for its basis the never dying prin- 
ciiDles of justice and right, and its programme was 
reasonable, desirable and attainable. It was an in- 
tellectual and educational movement and to head it 



92 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

the best wisdom and judgment of the country called 
Charles Stewart Parnell in 1879. 

Mr. Parnell is not a great orator such as O'Connell 
was. O'Connell could make the people weep or laugh 
as he willed by the magical power of his eloquence, 
and his passionate exhortations could arouse them to 
the wildest enthusiasm. The world had never seen his 
equal as a popular orator, and the English Parliament, 
fruitful as it was in great men, could not show his 
master in debate. But Mr. Parnell makes no preten- 
sions to be gifted as an orator. Neither on the pub- 
he platform nor in the House of Commons does he 
use rhetoric or affect eloquence. His most prominent 
characteristics.as. a speaker are a cold, unimpassioned 
manner ; anifriperturbability that nothing can ruffle or 
disturb; a wide and intimate knowledge of Parlia- 
mentary procedure ; a prodigious command of facts 
and princij)les ; great earnestness and clearness in 
argument ; large powers of convincing reasoning, 
and a very considerable faculty for crushing invective 
and concentrated sarcasm. 

His speeches are always interesting and impressive 
and they have the more weight in Parliament because 
they are addressed to the intellect rather than to the 
emotions. He can, however, be impassioned on oc- 
casion, but never to the extent of losing any of his 
wonderful self-control. 

If the historian Lecky is right when he says that 
*'he who can furnish the watchwords of party, the 
epigrams of debate, will now exercise the greatest 
and most abiding influence," as contra-distinguished 
from the eloquent orator of a century ago, Mr. Par- 
nell is gifted in the highest degree. Every one of his 
rpeeches contains examples of terse, vigorous and vivid 
expression which impress the listener and remain in 
the memory. Hf put a limit to the coersive powers 
of Parliament in the defiant ex])ression "You cannot 
imprison a nation." He saved tiie farmers of Ireland 
in a great crisis by the advice " Keep a firm grip on 



CHARLES STEWART PAENELL. 93 

your homesteads," and lie struck down the scheme for 
the nationalization of land in the sentence " You must 
either buy the land or fight for it." O'Connell said 
in praise of Grattan that he was constantly saying 
^things that were remembered, and every meeting in 
Ireland gives testimony to the possession of the same 
power by Mr. Parnell. His phrases epitomizing great 
truths or desirable action are instantly caught up and 
repeated by the popular voice from end to end of Ire- 
land. 

In stature Mr. Parnell is something above the me- 
dium height and of rather slight, but active and 
strong build. His face is a handsome one, but habit- 
ually pale and stern ; his forehead is broad and high 
and his bearing aristocratic and dignified. He 
seldom speaks in the House of Commons except on 
occasions of moment, leaving that duty to his lieuten- 
ants, of whom he has several who are very able men. 
When he does address the House, he always com- 
mands great attention, and when it is known before- 
hand that he is to speak the chamber is generally 
crowded. His parliamentary knowledge is, as I have 
said before, very great and he is very tenacious of a 
point, fighting every inch of the ground. He is quick 
to see an advantage and prompt in acting upon it. 
He rarely makes an error in statement, and Mi*. Glad- 
stone himself has testified that " no member of the 
House can say what he has to say so clearly or 
in so few words as the member for Cork." Then 
there is allied to him a touch of the mysterious. No 
one knows what he is going to say until he says it, 
and he often delivers himself of that which was 
wholly unexpected. 

Before an Irish popular audience this cold, clear, 
logical speaker is listened to with eagerness and the 
most respectful attention and remarks and phrases of 
his are treasured up in the memories of the populace 
or coined into watchwords. He can Fe daring on oc- 
casion and then can urge the people to the utmost 



94 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

limit of safe resistance ; but generally he is cool, cau- 
tious and persevering. His very coldness and imper- 
turbability of exterior attracts and he is clioered as 
enthusiastically as if he were the most fervid and 
eloquent of orators. And this too, by the traditionally 
hotheaded and thoughtless Irish peasantry. Nothing 
is more clearly illustrative of the change in the peo- 
ple since O'Connell's time. The peasant of Charles 
Lever and of Samuel Lover has totally disappeared 
from the country and the men who follow Parnell are 
cool-headed, intelligent and calculating. 

In the councils of the Parliamentary party Mr. Par- 
nell is tolerant of all opinions and listens patiently to all 
sides of every question. His advice is always ready 
when called for, and is invariably sound, sagacious 
and safe. The fact that his associates love as well as 
follow him is testimony to his personal merits and to 
the statesmanlike judgment with which he forms his 
plans and carries them out vvnlhout producing envy or 
irritation in the minds of his colleagues. 

Mr. Parnell is beyond question a man possessing in 
his character many of the attributes of greatness, but 
he is too young as yet and his life-work in too unfin- 
ished a state to warrant an attempt at comparison 
with the great personages of history. That will be 
the task of the future historian. However, every day 
that passes adds so largely to his reputation tha^ it 
may be predicted with safety that should he succeed 
in achieving Home Rule for Ireland his name will 
rank with that of Washington and Bismarck in, the 
annals of the founders of nations. 



CHARLES STBWAKT PAEJSTELL. 95 



CHAPTER XV. 

IRISH LEGISLATION- IIST PARLIAMENT IN" 1883 — THE 

ORANGE OUTRAGES IN IRELAND THE PROGRESS 

OP THE POPULAR MOVEMENT., 

A FEW days after the Forster incident in the House 
of Commons — on Feb. 26, 1883 — Mr. Parnell again 
moved to the attack upon government by an amend- 
ment to the address in reply to the Queen's speech, 
severely arraigning the administration of the Crimes 
act in Ireland. In his speech he classed Earl Spencer, 
ihe lord lieutenant, as an autocrat greater than the 
Czar of Russia in his own dominions ; charged most 
of the Irish judges with being mere political hangers- 
on to the Castle, who were more intent on obtaining 
verdicts of gnilty than in vindicating the law, and de- 
nounced the methods of packing juries with Protest- 
ants in the trial of Catholics as unconstitutional and 
degrading. He warned the government that they 
would never have an Ireland more tranquil so long as 
the people were taught tliat to be tranquil was to be 
treated as though they had nothing to complain of ; 
but the government was in no mood to receive advice 
from the Irish leader and his amendment was defeated 
by an overwhelming majority. Not only that, but 
the government announced that no more remedial 
legislation need be expected for Ireland. English in- 
terests had for too long been neglected and the minis- 
tei-s were now determined to devote to them all the 
remaining time of the session. 

But the Irish members were not to be put down so 
easily. Mr. Parnell had a programme too, and in 
spite of the government's pronouncement he was re- 
solved to carry it out. With this end in view he set 
earnestly to work and by a series of masterly moves 
he pompelled the passage during the year of three 
bills of great importance to Ireland, namely : The 
Fisheries bill, the Laborers' bill and the Tramways bill. 



96 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

The first of these was intended to operate in the 
development of a great Irisli industry by the erection 
of much needed piers and harbors. 

The Labort-r.^' bill — with the co-operation of the 
boards of guardians and the National League — would 
result in giving the laborers decent homes and plots 
of land, and was a very important contribution lo 
agrarian legislation. This bill embodied principles 
of vast importance and of far-reaching scope, whether 
looked at from the lowest light of expediency or from 
its highest aspect of justice and morality. It tended 
to serve as a check on emigration by giving to the 
laborer the attractive prospect of a home, not in the 
back slums of towns, but in the healthful and congenial 
scenes of his daily avocations. 

The Tramways act was intended to open up the 
counti-y to trade and 'commerce and to confer advan- 
tages of ready and convenient transit on districts too 
poor to maintain more pretentious railways. One 
clause of the bill provided for the carrying out of 
Mr. Parnell's scheme for a migration, as opposed to 
the government's emigration pulicj^, by which the 
surplus population of certain districts in Ireland was 
10 be transplanted to other districts more fertile and 
less densely peopled. 

Such is the record of the achievements of the Irish 
party in Parliament for the year 1883. It does not 
include a tithe of what the Parnellites aspired to ob- 
tain, but the bills passed were important, neverthe- 
less, as progressive measures, and as calculated to ad- 
vance the National cause by putting the people in a 
better condition to insist upon the compliance by 
government with all their just demands. 

The condition of things in Ireland in the meantime 
was again exciting general remark. Arrests undei* 
the Crimes act Avere growing more and more frequent 
and the victims were among the most prominent men 
in the country, including Messrs. Davitt and Quiun, 
T. M. Healy, M. P.; the Mayor of Wexford, T. Ilar- 



o 





CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 97 

rington, M. P.; Editor McPbilpinof the Tuam JSFeios 
and many others equally well known. United Ireland, 
the orgaa of the National League, was seized by the 
government and its editor was put upon his trial. It 
looked as though the reign of terror of the preceding 
year was about to be revived in all its horrors. 

The arrests were made principally among the Na- 
tionalists, but nearly all the disorder and disturbance 
in the country were created by the Orangemen. This 
was especially the case in Ulster, the Orange strong- 
hold. Meetings of Orangemen wore called avowedly 
for the purpose of kindling anew the traditional hos- 
tility to Catholics, and the northern counties wit- 
nessed many scenes of riot and disorder, which, had 
they occurred in other parts of Ireland, would have 
caused the disordered districts to be instantly pro- 
claimed. Bands of Orangemen committed many acts 
of violence upon the persons and property of their 
Catholic fellow-countrymen, and they explained and 
attempted to jusiify them on the ground that the vic- 
tims were disloyal to the Crown. Peaceable Nation- 
alist meetings were attacked by these ultra loyalists 
and many fatalities resulted, the government looking 
supinely on, and the lord lieutenant exercised the 
plenary powers with which he was clothed by the 
Crimes act only to suppress Nationalist meetings. 
The Orange meetings were for a time encouraged and 
connived at ; but the Nationalist meetings were pro- 
claimed as assemblages likely to cause disturbances of 
the peace, not by the Nationalists, but by the Orange- 
men, who had announced a determination to disperse 
all Nationalist assemblages — and so the government 
made the Nationalists do penance to prevent the 
Orangemen from committing sin. 

But this state of things could not go on. The 
partiality of the government was too manifest. The 
ministers professed to be sailing on " an even keel," 
but Mr. Parnell showed that in the administration of 
the laws in Ireland Earl Spencer and Mr. Trevelyau 



98 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

were very decidedly one-sided. He publicly exposed 
their bias, and demanded that the same measures of 
lepressiou to which the Nationalists had been sub- 
jected should be applied with equal rigjor to the 
Orangemen. The result was tiiat Earl Spencer did 
make a pretense of suppressing the Tin'awl'ul meetings 
of Orangemen as well as the lawful meetings of 
Nationalists, but he only went far enougli to alienate 
the Orange leaders, without convincing Nationalists 
of the sincerity of his intention to use the large and 
harsh powers conferred upon him with strict im- 
partiality. 

These were the dai*k clouds which lowered upon 
the National movement in 1883, but emerging from 
the shadows the Nationalists could look back witli 
satisfaction on the work of the year. They had 
subscribed a magnificent tribute to their leader in 
testimony of their esteem and confidcnci", and they 
had won an unparalleled scries of election triumplis 
in Mallow, in Westmeath, in Tipperary, in AVexford 
borough, in Wexford county, in Monaghan, in Sligo, 
and in Limerick. Besides these they had elected 
Nationalist mayors, sheriffs, aldermen, councillors 
and guardians in almost every city and town in Ire- 
land, and everything indicated tlie growing strength 
and power of the movement. Their representatives 
in Parliament had never been so closely identified 
with the people, nor had they ever before been so 
strong, because never before were they so thoroughly 
united in the cause of Ireland. They had to fight 
against great odds in the House of Commons, but 
the Fisheries bill, the Tramways bill, and the Labor- 
ers' bill bore testimony to their prowess, and were 
trophies that showed that they did not fight in 
vain. 



CHABLES STEWART PARNELL. 99 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE FRANCHISE BILL AND ITS EFFECT UPON THE 
IRISH ELECTORATE. 

Long before the session of 1884 opened Mr. Glad- 
stone's proposed measure for the reform of the 
franciiise had been the subject of earnest con- 
sideration by Mr. Parnell and of discussion by 
the Irish Parliamentary party. It was not known, 
of course, just how radical the measure would be, 
nor to what extent it would favorably aflfect Ireland 
in comparison with England, but it was hinted that 
the Irish franchise was to be treated in a separate 
bill which would be brought forward after the pas- 
sage of the English and Scotch bill. 

In the cabinet Lord Hartington strenuously ob- 
jected to entrusting the ballot to what he was pleased 
to call " the element hostile to government " in the 
Irish population, and the Tories, with the exception 
of Lord Randolph Churchill and one or two others, 
were all antagonistic to the inclusion of the Irish in 
the benefits of the bill. The Irish landlords and the 
Irish Orangemen used all their influence against 
Ireland also, and it became evident that Ireland's 
only chance of sharing in the benefits of the reform 
lay in getting recognition in the same bill with 
England and Scotland. 

Mr. Parnell saw this at once. He knew that if 
Ireland was treated in a separate bill that bill would 
stand very little chance of passing. For after the 
English and Scotch had got all they wanted, the 
Irish would be left to shift for themselves ; and even 
should it succeed in passing the Commons, the land- 
lord interest in the House of Lords would certainly 
be able to throw the measure out, and they would do 
this the more readily because neither the Liberals nor 
the Tories would make their act a party question, nor 
be likely to take them to task for it. 



100 LIFE AX^D tKEVICES OF 

Holding this view on the subject, Mr. Parnell took 
an early opportunity to make Mr. Gladstone under- 
stand that unless Ireland was placed on the same 
footing with England, and in the same bill, he would 
do his utmost lo defeat the government. And he 
could defeat tbem, too, for in his position on this 
question he had the pledge of support from many 
tladicals, and with their aid he had the English bill 
at his mercy. Unless Ireland was included there 
would be no hope of carrying a bill for England. 
That was the situation. Mr. Gladstone had prom- 
ised this reform to the English people, and 
defeat to him would mean deposal from office. He 
gauged Mr. Parnell's power correctly and he feared 
it, so he decided that Ireland should have the same 
privileges as England, and he brought in his bill 
accordingly. 

As a matter of fact there was far more need of 
such a bill for Ireland than there was for England or 
Scotland, the basis of the electorate being far from 
equal. In Ireland the proportion of electors to the 
population was only one in every twenty-three and a 
half, while in England and Wales it was one in nine and 
a quarter, and in Scotland one in eight and two- 
thirds. 

The bill was the most democratic measure which a 
British minister had advocated in half a century. It 
practically admitted the American idea that the right 
to vote is inherent in every capable citizen. Mr. 
Gladstone introduced it in the House of Commons on 
Feb. 28, 1884, under the name of the Household 
Suffrage bill, and he explained its provisions in a two 
hours' speech. He showed that it would greatly ex- 
tend the franchise and place the voters of boroughs 
and counties upon an equal footing, thereby increas- 
ing the voting power of the United Kingdom by about 
2,000,000—1,300,000 being for England ; 400,000 for 
Ireland and 200,000 for Scotland. Mr. Gladstone 
pointed out that the act would abolish the £4 rating 



CHARLES STEWART PAK:NELL. 10] 

franchise in Ireland and would substitute a £10 clear 
yearly value in its stead; that it conferred anew 
franchise upon the boroughs of England, Ireland and 
Scotland called the Service franchise, which would 
enfranchise persons who are neither owners or tenants, 
but yet are householders, in the sense that they are 
inhabitants of an integral part of a house. This would 
apply to the resident officers of institutions and to 
servants who fulfill functions of responsible inhabitant 
householders. In the counties the reform was also 
large. The £12 rating franchise in these was reduced 
to the £10 annual value franchise as in boroughs, and 
they would also have the Lodger franchise and the 
Service franchise, which would give votes to occu- 
piers in the sense of inhabitancy and would embrace 
the servants of the gentry, the servants of farmers 
and the servants of employers generally. 

These were the main provisions of the bill. In his 
speech Mr. Gladstone acknowledged that the Irish 
registration law was deplorably inefficient, and he 

Promised that, in accordance with the desires of the 
rish members, he would try to secure its amendment 
at an early day. He concluded his speech as follows: 
" All the three countries have a case for enfran- 
chisement arising out of the inefficiency of the 
present Constituency, as compared with what it 
might be, but of the three cases belonging to the three 
countries, the strongest is thnt of Ireland. I cannot 
be any party to passing one bill for Englaud and 
another for Scotland and then leaving Ireland to take 
its chance ; but I notice that the language of the 
Conservatives is in effect that there may be some- 
thing said in favor of extending the franchise to Eng- 
laud and Scotland, but that to extend it to Ireland would 
be madness. That is an indication of what would 
probably happen — I will not say in this House, but 
elsewhere — if separate bills were to be brought in. 
Under those circumstances, the necessity of a com- 
plete measure, in point of area, has, I would say, been 



102 LIFE AND SERVICES OP 

absolute, and nothing would induce us to depart 
from it." 

The Household Suffrage bill was opposed by the 
majority of the Tories in the House, but it was finally 
passed through its several stages and sent to the 
House of Lords, where is was practically shelved by 
the adoption of Lord Cairns' amendment postponing 
the extension of the franchise until a redistribution 
scheme should be arranged, and with this Mr. Glad- 
stone was forced to be content until the autumn 
session should give him another chance to push his 
pet measure. 

During the vacation the Liberals held great meet- 
ings in the large towns in England and began a fierce 
agitation in favor of the extension of the franchise, 
in the hope that the force of public opinion would 
move the Lords to pass the franchise bill when next 
it came before them. A very bitter feeling was 
aroused against the hereditary chamber, and it was 
rumored that Mr. Gladstone would make a majority 
in the Lords by doing away with the L-ish and Scotch 
representative peer system, giving the Irish and 
Scotch peers seats in the House. It was threatened, 
moreover, that, if the Lords persisted in their opposi- 
tion to the reform, the Upper House of Parliament 
would be abolished altogether. 

These demonstrations had the intended effect, and 
when Parliament met again that autumn the House- 
hold Suffrage bill was brought forward once more 
under the name of the Representation of the People 
Act and successfully carried through both Houses, 
receiving the royal assent on Dec. 6. The Redis- 
tribution of Seats act was introduced at this session 
also, but it did not pass until the following year. 



CHARLES STEWAKT PARNELL. 103 



CHAPTER XYIL 

THE POWERS OF DUBLIN" CASTLE IN THE GOVERK- 
MENT THE DUBLIlSr SCANDALS. 

In Ireland the interest of the year centered in the 
aggressive and successful war which the Nationalists 
had been making upon the very citadel of British 
government in the country — Dublin Castle. 

By Irishmen the term Dublin Castle is used to 
signify the embodiment of the system which controls 
the government of Ireland. The " Castle " is the 
center of all the power, as v.'ell as the seat of all the 
iniquities, in the Irish administration. At its head 
stands the lord lieutenant ; under him the chief 
secretary, and next to him the under secretary and 
the two assistant under secretaries. These comprise 
what is called the executive of Ireland, and are usu- 
ally men who are neither amciiable to, nor likely to 
be influenced by, the wishes of the unfortunate people 
whom they are supposed to govern. The members 
of the executive are rarely Irishmen, but if by any 
chance a man of Irish birth happens to be appointed, 
he is sure to be of that class having no sympathy 
with the political ideas of the great mass of the Irish 
people. At this time the lord lieutenant was Earl 
Spencer, an Englishman; the chief secretary was 
Mr. Trevelyan, an Englishman; the under secretary 
was Mr. Hamilton, a Scotchman ; while one assistant 
under secretary was Mr. Jenkinson, an Englishman, 
and the other was I^r. Kaye, an Irishman of the ex- 
treme Tory type. 

Thus the head of all power in Ireland was a body 
composed of three Englishmen, a Scotchman, and an 
Irish Tory — all Protestants. And this in a country 
where four-fifths of the peo}»le are Catholics. 

The privy council is the advisory body upon which 
the executive relies for assistance in governing Ire- 



104 LIFE AND SERVICES OP 

land. This body consists exclusively of peers, 
officials, ex-officials, judges, past and present, law 
officers, and the Protestant archbishops — men who 
liold their jjosilions not because they have the confi- 
dence of the people whom they are supposed to assist 
in governing, but because tliey have it not. 

Yet it is tliis body which issues the proclamations 
under which arrests for seditious conspiracy and 
orders for the suppression of public meetings are 
made. Is it to be wondered at, under the circum- 
stances, that the laws are not administered with im- 
partiality as between the rulers and the subjects, or 
between the Nationalists and Orangemen? 

The subordinate departments of the government 
of Ireland are equally alien in spirit, if not in f:ict, 
with the executive and the privy council, and the 
sanction to which they cater in the administration of 
their duties is not that of Irish public opinion, but 
that of the Castle — an antipodean term— and the 
s mctiou to whicli the Castle caters is that of Eng- 
lishmen — ihat of a foreign race. 

The government of Ireland is extremely central- 
ized, nearly all the powers of appointment and of 
administration being directly or indirectly vested in 
the Castle. A glance at the make-up of the magis- 
tracy, the police, and the various boards and com- 
missions, will show how the influence of the Castle 
permeates — nay, dominates — every branch of the 
government, local as well as national. The Irish 
local government board controls the boards of 
poor law guardians, and in some respects it also 
controls all the corporations and town commissioners 
throughout Ireland. The members of the local gov- 
ernment board are appointed by the Castle, and the 
chief secretary is the president of the board. The 
entire control of the fiscal affairs of each Irish county 
rests in the grand jury, a body consisting of twenty- 
three gentlemen selected by the high sherifE, who has 
himself been appointed by the Castle. The grand 



CHARLES STEWART PAR.NELL. 105 

jury meets twice a year, and votes taxes to the 
atnoiiiit of about c£l,250,uOO and disposes of a patron- 
age I'Ut of the public rates amounting to over 
£100,000 annually. The Irish prisons system is man- 
aged by a board of three members, all appointed by 
the Castle, and the lunatic asylums of Ireland are 
controlled by boards which are appointed by the 
Castle, and the resident and visiting mediial 
officers, and the inspectors attached to those institu- 
tions, are also appointed by the Castle. The whole 
system of primary education in Ireland is under the 
control of a central board in Dublin, every member 
of which is indebted to the C.istle for his position, 
and the Castle also selects the members of the board 
in Dublin which presides over the system of inter- 
mediate education for all Ireland. The metropolitan 
police in Dublin are under the control of a commis- 
sioner who is appointed by the C'astle, and the entire 
system of rural police — known in Ireland as the con- 
stabulary force, and numbering 13,000 men — is man- 
aged by a commissioner appointed by the Castle, and 
all the stipendiary magistrates throughout Ireland 
are appointed by the Castle. The unpaid magistrates 
are usually appointed on the recommendation of the 
lord lieutenant of the county, who is himself appointed 
by the Castle. All the magistrates, paid and unpaid, 
look to the Castle for advice and direction in the 
performance of their duties; and prosecutions, in- 
stead of being undertaken by the magistrates them- 
selves or by private persons, as in England, are insti- 
tuted invariably in the name and under the direction 
of the Irish attorney general, who has his office in tlie 
Castle. The fisheries board consists of three pai 1 
members and one unpaid member, and these are all 
appointed by the Castle. The Irish board of works 
is under the direct control of the treasury in London. 
It will easily be seen that under the existing sys- 
tem the people of Ireland have very little to do with 
the administration of the law, and ai-e not burdened 



106 LIFE A^T) SERVICES OF 

to a great extent with the responsibilities or the 
emoluments of office in their own land. 

It is not strange that under such a system many 
great and grave abuses flourished unrebuked. That 
they did so flourish was a notorious fact which had 
often been brought to the attention of government 
by the Irish members of Parliament. The most 
horrible of all the abuses, however, were those which 
were exposed under the name of the Dublin Scandals. 
Mr. William O'lJrien, M. P. for Mallow and editor 
of United Ireland^ had obtained an inkling of the 
state of affairs in the Dublin post office and detective 
departments, and at great expense to himself he set 
on foot an investigation which led to the exposure of 
the bestiality of certain officials high in favor at the 
Castle. 

The details of the scandal are of too recent re- 
counting and in their nature too horrible to need 
repeating here. Suffice it to say that Mr. O'Brien 
made very serious charges against leading Castle 
officials, one of whom was James Ellis French, the 
head of the detective department in Dublin, and the 
other of whom was Secretary Cornwall, of the Dub- 
lin post office. The charges created a great sensation 
at the time, but when they were brought to the atten- 
tion of government in the House of Commons, Mr. 
Trevelyan refused to believe them, and accused Mr. 
O'Brien of employing a detective for the purpose of 
trumping up charges against public men. 

Mr. Cornwall began immediate action against Mr. 
O'Brien for libel, it is believed at the instigation of 
the government, but Mr, O'Brien met the action fear- 
lessly and proposed to defend himself by proving 
the truth of his charges. The trial resulted in favor 
of Mr. O'Brien and convinced everybody that his 
charges were only too well founded. 

The government was not satisfied, however, and 
Mr. Cornwall moved for a new trial. In delivering 
judgment on this motion Justice Murphy said : 



CHARLES STEWART P.\R:vrELL, lO'J 

"Openly and publicly, on clear and sufficient evi- 
dence, to the mind of the jury and the mind of the 
judge, a jury had found him (Cornwall) guilty of 
loathsome vices that should cause him to be shunned 
by all persons having regard for decency." And 
Chief Justice Morris said on the same occasion : " It 
was not contended on the part of the plaintiff (Corn- 
wall) — it could not be contended — that there was not 
ample evidence of the commission by him of loath- 
some and horrible deeds." 

James Ellis French also began an action against 
Mr. O'Brien, but he did not have the courage to push 
it through, and as a result of the evidence brought 
out, the government was compelled in self defense to 
bring an action against both French and Cornwall 
for felony, French was convicted and sentenced to 
two years' imprisonment with hard labor, Justice 
O'Brien saying that he unqualifiedly concurred in the 
verdict of the jury. In Cornwall's case the jury dis- 
agreed. Several of their accomplices were also tried 
and upon conviction were sentenced to long terms of 
imprisonment. 

Mr. O'Brien also made charges of official miscon- 
duct against Crown Solicitor Bolton, of a nature to- 
tally different from those brought against Cornwall 
and French, but still very grave charges, which if 
true would make him unfit to hold any public office, 
and it is generally admitted that Mr. O'Brien fur- 
i.ished evidence enough to establish their truth satis- 
faciorily to any impartial mind. 

One would think that Mr. O'Brien's labors in ex- 
posing the hotbed of iniquity, existing right in the 
midst of the highest government circles in Dublii', 
merited and would be repaid by the thanks of tlu3 
amhorities, but the contrary was the case. Mn 
Trevelyan was compelled at last to believe in tlie 
guilt of his favorites, but he never apologized to Mr, 
O'Brien for the accusations which he had made 
against him, and his example was followed by the 



108 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

London press, which used to denounce Mr. O'Brien 
unmercifully while the charges he made were yet iin- 
proved; "but, when they were made good, the subject 
was dropped altogether and nothing more was said 
about it. 

But Mr. O'Brien was not looking for thanks from 
English statesmen or English newspapers. He had 
the satisfaction of knowing that his labors bore bet- 
ter fruit in that they met with the unanimous approval 
of Irishmen and tended to weaken the system of gov- 
ernment against which, as an Irish Nationalist, he 
was fighting. One result of the exposures was very 
gratifying to the Nationalists. This was the resigna- 
tion of Mr. Trevelyan, who gave up his position of 
chief secretary to accept of a sinecure. He was suc- 
ceeded by Mr. Campbell-Bannerraan, a Scotchman. 

As a consequence of the exposures, too, Mr. Par- 
nell's project for the abolition of the viceroyalty came 
to be regarded much less distastefully in England than 
it had been theretofore, and many Englishmen of 
eminence publicly pronounced in favor of giving Ire- 
land some measui-e of home rule. As an evidence of 
the change in thought which these disclosures were 
influential in bringing about, a brief quotation from 
so able and so prominent an Englishman as Matthew 
Arnold, will be of interest : " I will not ask," said 
Mr. Arnold in an English magazine in January last, 
" if our institutions work easily and successfully in 
Ireland; to ask such a question would be too bitter, 
too cruel a mockery. Those hateful cases which have 
been tried in the Dublin courts this last year suggest 
the dark and ill-omened word which applies to the 
whole state of Ireland — anti-natural. Anti-natural, 
auti-nature — that is the word which rises irresistably 
in my mind as I survey Ireland. It is unnatural that 
Ireland should be governed by Lord Spencer and Mr. 
Campbell-Bannerraan — as unnatural as for Scotland 
to be governed by Lord Cranbrook and Mr. Healy. 
It is unnatural that Ireland should be croverned under 



CHAELES STEWAKT PAENELL. 109 

a Crimes act. But there is necessity, replies the gov- 
ernment. A necessity for the Crimes act is a necessity 
for absolute government. By our patchwork pro- 
ceedings we set up, indeed, a make-believe of Ire- 
land's being constitutionally governed. But it is not 
constitutionally governed; nobody supposes it to be 
constitutionally governed, except, perhaps, that born 
swallower of all clap-trap, the British Philistine. 
The Irish themselves, the all-important personages in 
this case, are not taken in; our make-believe does not 
produce in them the very least gratitude, the very 
least softening. At the same time it adds an hundred 
fold to the difficulties of an absolute government. 
The working of our institutions being thus awry, is 
the working of our thoughts upon them more smooth 
and natural ? I imagine to myself an American list- 
ening to us as we talk politics and discuss the strained 
state of things here. ' Certainly these men have con- 
siderable difficulties,' he would say, ' but they never 
look at them straight, they do not think straight. '" 



CHAPTER XVm. 

ME. Gladstone's foeeign tolicy — the peince of 

wales' visit to IRELAND — THE FALL OF THE 
GLADSTONE GOVEENMENT. 

CiECDMSTANCES now Were all working favorably for 
the plans and purposes of Mr. Parnell. While Mr. 
Gladstone's government was harassed, as we have 
seen, in Ireland, his foreign policy was making mut-li 
trouble for England abroad. The insurrection in the 
Soudan, which England had undertaken to quell in 
the interest of the Khedive's government in Egypt, 
proved more formidable than Mr. Gladstone had bar- 
gained for, and at the beginning of 1885, after three 
years of desultory fighting^and great expenditure of 
blood and treasure, was no nearer to an end than ifc 



110 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

was in the beginning. The expedition up the valley 
of the Nile to the relief of Khartoum only arrived at 
its destination to find that General Gordon and his 
companions had already fallen. 

This news reached England in February, 1885, and 
created great excitement among all classes. The Con- 
servatives were not slow to take advantage of the 
popular feeling, and on Feb. 27, ises, Sir Stafford 
Northcote moved, in the House of Commons, for a 
vote of censuie against the government. During 
1884 two similar votes had been moved, but they 
were defeated each time, and on this occasion the 
Conservatives were not successful either, though the 
vote was so close that the government had no reason 
to be proud of the result. Indeed, so narrow was the 
majority in their favor that the ministers were in- 
clined to regard the vote as equivalent to a defeat, 
and were actually divided on the question of continu- 
ing in office. It was decided, however, not to resign, 
and the death of El Mahdi, which followed in a 
month or two, made the Egyptian difficulty compara- 
tively easy of soluiion, and relieved the shoulders of 
the government, so to speak, of a gre.it burden. 

But it was not yet smooth sailing. Tiie goveni- 
raent now became involved in a serious dispute with 
Russia over the Afghan boundary question, and at 
one time this threatened to terminate in a war be- 
tween the two empires, bt;t, after much diplomatic 
negotiation and mutual concessions by the parties 
to the issue, this trouble assumed a more peaceful 
aspect, though it was not finally settled until after 
the Conservatives came into power. 

On April 7, the Prince andPjincess of Wales, with 
their eldest son and a royal retinue, left England to 
make a tour of Ireland in the hope of winning the 
Irish away from Mr, Parnell by soft speeches at re- 
ceptions and cattle shows. The Nationalist leaders 
advised that they be respectfully received, and so 
they were itntil the loyalist press began to make polit- 



CHARLES STEWART TAENELL. Ill 

ical capital out of the quiescence of the people. lu 
Dublin the stores were to a large extent decorated 
and the loyalists had quite a largo procession in honor 
of the royal party. At the Castle a levee was given 
and this was attended by the nobility, the Castle offi- 
cials and others who were known to be in sympathy 
with the govei'nment. At Trinity College, where the 
dons and students come mostly from the Tory class, 
the Prince was greeted with enthusiasm, as he was also 
at the Royal University and at the Artane Industrial 
School. Large crowds were assembled also at the 
Spencer Dock and the Cattle Show Yard when the 
Prince visited those places and there was much cheer- 
ing, but it was evident that the audiences to which 
Earl Spencer introduced his royal guest were all care- 
fully selected from among the "loyal" class. The 
people generally held coldly aloof or looked quietly 
on. 

The Prince's reception in the Irish capital afforded 
much satisfaction to Englishmen, but they could not 
let well enough alone. They evidently mistook the 
attitude of the Irish people, which was solely dictated 
by feelings of respectful consideration for a Prince 
who personally never did them any harm, for one of 
extreme loyalty; and immediately ihe anti-Nationalist 
press in Ireland and England began to teem -with 
articles extolling the faithfulness of the Irish and 
denouncing Parnell as a demagogue and imposter, 
who had exaggerated his inlluence in Ireland for his 
own selfish purposes. 

This effort to make political capital out of the 
Prince's visit, and to use their self-repression to their 
disadvantage, naturally caused much irritation among 
the Nationalists and it was detei'uiined that some- 
thing should be done to show to England and the 
Prince the real state of public feeling in Ireland. 

So it was that when the Prince reached Mallow, in 
Cork, on his visit south, he found several thousand 
persons assembled at the station and all were singing 



112 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

*'God Save Ireland," interspersing lusty cheers for 
Parnell between each verse. In various parts of the 
county Waterford and in Cork, the windows of every 
house from which protruded a bit of ribbon were 
smashed in with stones. At Kilmacthomas, in Wa- 
terford, the local board of guardians had a black flag 
flying from the poorhouse, and at another station in 
the same county a flag was flying with the motto, 
"We'll hae na Prince but Charlie," attached. The 
groups of peoj^le standing about these stations on the 
route of the royal party opened their moutlis only to 
groan or hiss, and altogether the rec<^p'ion in the 
south was not a very encouraging one. Tlie climax 
was reached at the arrival in Cork city. A crowd 
of loyalist sympathizers had been admitted to the 
station by tickets, and these cheered the arrivals 
heartily, but when the party emerged to the streets 
where the great mass of the people were congregated 
the Dame of the Prince was received only with 
hisses, while that of Parnell was greeted with cheers 
that vibrated in air for miles. The students of the 
Queen's College, which used to be a very nursery of 
loyalty, pulled down the Union Jack from the col- 
lege walls and hissed his royal highness as he passed 
them in the street. As a consequence of this he did 
not make his contemplated visit to that institution. 
In the west of Ireland the reception to the Prince's 
party was hardly more cordial, and even in Ulster, 
the home of the Orangemen, the welcome was rather a 
cold one. The chief representative bodies in Ireland, 
including the corporations of Dublin, Cork, Lim- 
erick, Kilkenny, Waterford, Drogheda and Wexford, 
deliberately refused to extend addres-es of welcome, 
and on the whole the two weeks' visit of the Prince 
could not have been a very enjoyable one, nor could 
it tend to reassure the government with respect to the 
sta'e of feeling in Ireland. 

In government circles the subject which caused the 
mi >st earnest discussion at this time was the Crimes 



CHA.ELES STEWART PAR NELL. 113 

act. The act was about to expire by limitation and 
the cabinet was seriously divided on the question of 
its renewal. One section, of which Lord Spencer was 
the leading spirit, strenuously insisted on its re-enact- 
ment, and Spencer even threatened to resign if his 
demand was not complied with, while another sec- 
tion, which included Mr. Childers, Sir Charles Dilke, 
Joseph Chamberlain and Shaw Lefevre, advocated 
letting the act drop. To avert the threatened disrup- 
tion in his cabinet, Mr. Gladstone detennined to draft 
the Crimes act in a modified form and to accompany 
the measure by a land purchase bill for Ireland. To 
this, however, Messrs, Dilke and Chamberlain would 
not agree. To add to the difficulties of the situation, 
Mr. Parnell was working very hard to create an ef- 
fective opposition to the Crimes act, should it be 
brought forward, no matter in what form, and it was 
said that he had at least thirty Tories and as many as 
fifty Radicals pledged to aid him in defeating the 
measure. It began to look as though the ministry 
would go to pieces on the Crimes act any way, but a 
compromise was effected at last between Earl Spen- 
cer on the one side, and Messrs. Dilke and Chamber- 
lain on the other. At the meeting of the cabinet on 
June 8th, it was agreed that the Crimes act should be 
passed for two years and that its introduction should 
be accompanied by a measure of local self-govern- 
ment for Ireland. 

But these measures were fated never to be intro- 
duced in the House of Commons. The end of the 
Gladstone government, although unsuspected was 
near at hand. The government's proposition to in- 
crease the duty on beer and spirits in order to make up 
the deficit caused by the Soudan campaign and the 
preparations for a war with Russia, aroused a strong 
and fierce opposition, and on June 7, 40,000 people 
held a meeting in London to protest against the ex- 
tra tax. It was known tiiat an effoi-t would be made 
to defeat the Gladstone Budget bill, but it was not 



114 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

expected that the government could be hurled from 
power. Yet, on the evening of the very day when 
the cabinet finally decided to push forward the Crimes 
act, the government met with a fatal reverse in the 
adoption of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach's amendment to 
the motion for a second reading of the Budget, which 
was carried in the House of Commons by a vote of 
264 to 252, leaving the government in a minority of 12. 

The House quivered with excitement as the an- 
nouncement was made and then the cheers of the Tories 
and the cries of " Spencer," "Coercion," "Buckshot,'* 
" Myles Joyce," etc., from the Irish members filled the 
air. Mr. Parnel.. alone was unmoved and with a 
smile upon his paie face he sat silently through it all. 
Sir Randolph Churchill and others of the Tories 
jumped upon the benches and waved ^ats and hand- 
kerchiefs wildly, and for a wh.ifc pandemonium 
reigned. As soon as a lull came Mr. Gladstone arose, 
pale, but dignified, and moved for an adjournment. 

On the next day, June 9, a cabinet council was 
held and it was resolved that the resignations of the 
members be tendered to the Queen at once. Later in 
the afternoon Mr. Gladstone announced the decision 
to the House of Commons and requested an adjourn- 
ment until June 12, so that Her Majesty might be 
communicated with. 

Thus fell the strongest ministry of the century and 
Mr. Parnell had cause for congratulation in the knowl- 
edge that with it fell coercion for Ireland. The 
Irish leader was one of the few men who foresaw that the 
division would be the death blow of the ministry, 
and with his own hand, on the Sunday previous to 
the vote, he had despatched twenty telegrams to 
absent members of his party urging them to be pres- 
ent at all hazards. Some of these though they 
hastened to obey him, marvelled nmch as to what he 
could see in this latest of Tory votes of censure to 
make him so urgent, and but few besides himself 
realized, even up to the very last moment, what was 



CHAELKG STE^VAL.T TAKXELL. 115 

coming.. The tliirty-iiine votes of the Irish j^arty 
turned the fortunes of the day and the Gladstone 
government was undone. 

The defeat of the liberal government was nn- 
doubtedl}^ a victory for Mr. Parnell and it was justi- 
fied by the fact that — notwithstanding Mr. Glad- 
stone's authorship of certain measures calculated to 
improve the condition of the Irish people — the 
general policy of the Gladstone government was one 
of injustice to Ireland. Speaking of the defeat, in 
an interview the day following, Mr. Parnell said : 

"The result of the division is a consequence of 
tlie policy v>hich the Irish party has adopted during 
the last four years of this Parliament — to turn out 
the government at any cost, as a lesson for all future 
governments with regard to the determination of the 
Irish people not to submit to unconstitutional govern- 
ment or coercion. The Irish members have followed 
out this policy in the most determined fashion. They 
have pushed the government very closely upon many 
divisions, and beaten them more tlian once (though, 
unhappily, not on occasions on which the government 
were obliged to resign). Members of the party have 
seldom failed to turn up at critical divisions, where 
the fate of the government was involved, in larger 
proportionate numbers than either of the other two 
parties. We should have succeeded in expelling the 
ministry from office long ago if it had not been for 
the secession of twenty members of our party who 
were elected on the same principles as we, but who 
have voted with the government as constantly as we 
have voted against them. The pleasure and advantage 
of that vote to us is increased by the fact that we 
have saved almost the only remaining Irish industry 
from a burden of £500,000 a year. We confidently 
anticipate the much more important additional result 
that we have not only got rid of a coercionist govern- 
ment, but in all probability we have put an end to 
coercion in Ireland forever." 



116 LIFE AND SEr.VICES OF 

And tlie Dablin Freeman adverted to the defeat 
in the following terms : 

'' The defeat is due to the action of the Parnellites in 
refusing to uphold a cabinet from which they received 
nothing but broken promises, and from which Ireland 
could expect nothing but injustice, as was fore- 
shadowed in the proposed attempt to again saddle 
upon Ireland the iniquitous provisions of the Crimes 
act. The result of the vote last night will cause Earl 
Spencer and his lieutenants at the castle to quit Ire- 
land, leaving behind them the memory of an adminis- 
tration which was pre-eminently noted for cold-blooded 
brutality and frigid calculating injustice. Earl Spen- 
cer may receive a dukedom for his misrule of Ire- 
land, but it would be well for the Queen and Mr. 
Gladstone to bear in mind that it was the lord lieu- 
tenant's hand that destroyed the greatest government 
England has had during the last century. If it had 
not been for Earl Spencer's misstatements in regard 
to the condition of Ireland, and his influence in the 
cabinet, Mr. Gladstone would have sought the friend- 
ship of Mr. Parnell and his followers, instead of pro- 
voking their hostility by such arbitrary measures as 
the proposed renewal of the Coercion bill." 

While United Irelandy the League organ in Ireland, 
said : 

" The three years which were to have sufficed to ex- 
tinguish the National League are just expiring ; the 
National League holds Ireland from the centre to the 
sea under its triumphant sway ; and it is by the votes 
of the party, and amidst the cheers of Irish 
Nationalists, that Earl Spencer tumbles from his 
throne and overwhelms the whole ministry in the 
crash. ' The dog it was that died.' The strongest 
Englishman, armed with the most terrific coercion 
code, and backed through thick and thin by the most 
redoubtable ministry of this century, engaged in a 
three years' bloody duel with an unarmed organiza- 
tion already stunned, when the duel began, with the 



CHAELES STEWART PAKNELL. 117 

terrible blow inflicted in the Phoenix Park and ex- 
hausted after two years of no less deadly struggle 
with the no less stubborn oppressor who pre- 
ceded him. The issue of the three years agony 
is that Earl Spencer leaves Ireland a ruined man 
and the destroyer of a ruined ministry ; and it is the 
power of victorious Ireland that])elts him into the sea 
and lights bonfires of triumph behind him. His three 
years' tyranny has solidified and disciplined the Irish 
nation to a pitch never realized before. He has left 
behind him deeds and a name which will be as potent 
to invoke detestation of English rule as the memories 
of Oarew, or Cromwell or Carhampton. He has 
shown that Liberal English rule in the last quarter of 
the nineteenth century can be as savage and unbear- 
able as in the days of the worst of these monsters — 
with the very marked differences that nowadays in a 
life and death struggle between Dublin Castle and the 
Irish people it is the I)-ish people who in the long run 
baflie, torture and crush tlie toughest English states- 
man who undertakes to play the tyrant over them. 
The mill of the Ii'ish people grinds slowly, but it grinds 
small. Then, every enemy, high or low, viceroy, 
land agent, castle ofiicial or hangman, has a way of 
finding himself a worsted and ruined man when all is 
said and done. Mi-. Forster is soured for life. Mr. 
Trevelyan is a white-haired, stooped old man. The 
vote which expels Earl Spencer from Ireland, hurls 
Mr. Speaker Peel from the chair. 

We counted tbcm at break of day, 
And when the sun sets, where are they ? 

When ' Earl Spencer with his mulish obstinancy, 
his omnipotent Crimes act and his ruthless terrorism, 
has gone down with a groan, who shall stand against 
the patient dint of Irish opinion? The Irish people 
have won by sheer force of patient intrepidity. Had 
tliey shrank before Earl Spencer's proclamations — 
had their leaders kept silence because every sentence 
they spoke might bubjectthem to the plank bed — hi;d 



118 LIFE AMD SERVICES OF 

their newspapers taken a tone of whispering humble- 
ness under the dread that their every issue might be 
their last — Earl Spencer would have pushed his ad- 
vantage without mercy, and Ireland would be to-day 
as reft of spirit as the corpse Sir Charles Gavan Duffy 
saw on the dissecting table." 

This was the spirit in which the Irish people gener- 
ally took the downfall of the Gladstone government. 
They gave Mr. Gladstone full credit for the ameliora- 
tive measures of which he had secured the passage, 
but they were not grateful, for there was no solid 
ground upon which their gratitude could be claimed. 
All and much more than they had received should 
have been granted to them years before. Every con- 
cession had been withheld from them as long as pos- 
sible and they were only granted at last under the 
pressure of a strong agitation, and even then they 
were accompanied by measures of coercion that served 
rather to intensify than to allay disaffection. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE ACCESSION TO TOWER OF THE SALISBURY GOV- 
ERNMENT MR. PAUNELL WINS A VICTORY. 

In accordance with the desire of the Queen, Lord 
Salisbury now took up the reins of government laid 
down by Mr. Gladstone, and formed a cabinet, of 
which Lord Randolph Churchill — whose views with 
regard to Ireland were known to be extremely liberal 
— was the central and dominating figure. Earl Spen- 
cer was recalled from Ireland, being succeeded as 
lord lieutenant by the Earl of Carnaiwon, and Mr. 
Campbell-Bannerman Avas replaced as chief secretary 
by Sir William Hart Dyke. The "Red Earl's" de- 
parture from Dublin, on June 28, is thus described 
by the Freeman of that city : 

" The precautions to insure the safe passage of his 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL, 119 

excellency over the half a mile of streets he had to 
travel from the castle before getting out of the cap- 
ital of Ireland were astonishing in their extent and 
variety. In addition to the stopping of traffic and 
the lining of the streets with military, horse and foot, 
policemen in mtifti were seen everywhere. This class 
of persons had Nassau street nearly all to themselves. 
The number of people along the route was, indeed, 
very small, comparatively speaking, considering the 
event of the day. There were there not one-tenth of 
the people who assembled on the same streets to 
witness the arrival of the Piince of Wales only a 
few nvmtlis ago. The ' loyalists,' who could have 
been piesent, made a very poor show, and the event 
rame off too early in the day to enable the democ- 
racy to witness it. The windows were as bare of 
spectators as the streets. Indeed, except a few par- 
ties of ladies at the windows of the Kildare Street 
Club, there appeared very little anxiety on the part 
of the ix'sidents of Nassau street to see the last of Earl 
Spencer in Ireland. It was expected that the aristoc- 
racy would have made a brave show, and that his 
excellency would have left Dublin with their applause 
and congratulations ringing in his ears. As it was, 
Earl Spencer was paid but a sorry compliment by his 
own class, and had he delayed his departure till 4 
o'clock — the hour originally arranged — the streets 
would have been gorged with the democracy, and 
scenes would probably have been witnessed compared 
to which the striking demonstration that did take place 
withal would be lost in insignificance. The process- 
ion, after leaving Nassau street, passed through Clare 
street and around Merrion street, Lower, to West- 
land row. A military band in Merrion street played 
*God Save the Queen,' and the air had the effect of 
making the people redouble their hooting and shout- 
ing. When West] and row was reached an exciting 
scene took place. The large crowd that had assem- 
bled there was considerably swelled by the numbers 



120 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

which had accompanied tlie cavalcade, and as the 
carriage of Earl Spencer turned into the carriage 
drive, to tlie terminus, the people became almost 
frantic with excitement, and again cries of 'Myles 
Joyce,' 'Cornwall,' 'French,' and 'Down with 
Coercion,' rang out high above the band-playing, 
cheering, groaning and hissing. The expressions of 
popular disfavor gave way to the Irish national an- 
them, ' God Save Ireland,' when the gates of the 
station closed on Earl Spencer, and the chorus rang 
from the throats of thousands in unmistakable heart- 
iness. The military were then ordered into line, and 
they marched off, leaving Westland row in the pos- 
session of the people. The greater portion of the 
latter formed into a procession and marched up Groat 
Brunswick street, still singing *God Save Ireland,' 
and, with the chorus, a not inappropriate close was 
brought to the demonstrations of the day in Dublin." 

The new government had resolved to let the Crimes 
act lapse and to rely upon the ordinary lavv's for the 
government of Ireland. English statesmen had be- 
come convinced that Mr. Parnell knew how to play 
to win, and both parties began to compete actively 
to secure him as an ally. The 40 votes which the 
Irish leader controlled were indispensable to the Tory 
government, and it was almost certain that at the 
general elections his following would be so largely 
increased as to give him the balance of power be- 
1 ween the two great parties, and enable him to make 
or break governments at his pleasure. For these 
reasons it became the fashion to consider Mr. Parnell 
a>^ a man whom it was best to conciliate and not to 
offend. 

Mr. Parnell's motion for an official inquiry into the 
guilt or innocence of the men who were hanged and 
i:nprisoned for alleged connection with the famous 
Maamtrasna murder case gave the first unequivocal 
evidence of his power in the House of Commons un- 
der the new {xovcrnment. He made the motion on 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 121 

July iTlh and v/ltlidrow it on the government's prom- 
ise to institute a private inquiry, and to redress, as 
far as possible, any injustice that might be brought 
to light. The story of the Maamtrasna case, taken 
from Mr. Parnell's speech on this occasion, is very 
interesting, and places Earl Spencer's conduct, acting 
through Crown Solicitor Bolton, in a light which 
makes his later deeds of tyranny seem white by com- 
parison. 

"At night, in the early part of 1882, a party broke 
into a house at Maamtrasna occupied by Joyce. They 
attacked this man and his family, and murdered him 
and his mother, wife and young daughter, and in- 
flicted upon his two sons such serious injuries that in 
tlie one case they were fatal, and in the other case the 
youth only recovered after a long illness. Two days 
after the murders two brothers, named Anthony 
Joyce and John Joyce, came forward with a most 
extraordinai y statement in regard to their having 
tracked ten persons, whom they accused of tlie mur- 
ders, for a long distance over the hills on the very 
dark night in question. They positively identified 
and swore to those ten persons as having been the per- 
sons who committed the murders. These ten men 
were arrested, and the Crimes act being in force at 
the time, the venue was changed, and the prisoners, 
none of Avhom could speak English, were brought away 
a distance from their homes and from everybody who 
knew their characters and the circumstances of the 
locality, and they were tried in Dublin by a packed 
jury of Dublin shopkeepers, who were mostly depend- 
ent upon the patronage of the castle for the means 
of living. That was the time when excitement in re- 
gard to the Land League ran very high, and when an 
attack had been made upon jurors in Dublin by the 
Invincible Society. Every Protestant juryman in the 
country considered his life was in danger, and the re- 
sult was that it was perfectly impossible for the class 
from whom these jurors were chosen to approach the 



122 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

consideration of a case like tliis with any sort of im- 
partialty or judicial freedom of mind. The prisoners 
were then tried before a special jury. The crown 
largely exercised its right of challenge, with the re- 
sult that an ahnost exclusively Protestant jury were 
empaneled. 

" Just a week or ten days before the trial came on, an 
informer named Pliilbin, who absolutely knew noth- 
ing of the circumstances of the mui-ders, but was one 
of those who had been sworn against by the two 
original so-called independent witnesses, came for- 
ward in order to save his own life, and by the in- 
ducement of the notorious George Bolton, who had 
the conduct of these trials, and who has been since 
superseded by the late government in the work- 
ing of the Crimes act, he offered to corroborate 
the testnnony of the original witnesses. The day 
before the tiinls cnine on another informer named 
Casey, who admits his own guilt, came forward and 
likewise offered to corroborate their evidence. His 
first stoiy was not accepted by the crown, because, 
being guilty, he told the truth and he gave informa- 
tion which did not tally with the case sought to be 
proved by the government. He was now compelled 
to make a second statement which tallied with the 
evidence of the two original witnesses, which he had 
heard six times over, and which also tallied in most 
respects — though differing in some important points 
— with the evidence of his brother informer, Philbin. 
An application on the part of the prisoners' counsel 
for a postponemont of the trial in order that some 
fuller investigation might bo made into the local cii*- 
cumstances, and also an application for a jury who 
would go over the ground traversed by the alleged 
assassins, were both refused. The first man, Patrick 
Joyce, whose guilt we admit, was tried and con- 
demned to death after eight minutes' deliberation by 
the jury. Patrick Casey was also put on trial and 
was found guilty after six minutes' deliberation. The 



CHAKLES STEWART PARNELL. 123 

sentences were of course delivered in open court, and 
I desire to take this opportunity of protesting most 
strongly against the conduct of the judge, which I 
can only term as injudicious and injudicial, in pass- 
ing sentence of death on two persons who were con- 
victed on precisely similar evidence as was offered 
against eight subsequent prisoners, and in prejudging 
the case of the other prisoners by making use of 
very strong expressions in regai'd to the evidence 
which was also brought forward against the remain- 
ing prisoners. 

"Such conduct, however innocent the prisoners 
miglit be, and it turned out live of the remaining 
seven were absolutely innocent, rendered a fair 
trial impossible. Myles Joyce was the next person 
on the list, and with the words of the judge in the 
previous case ringing in their ears, the jury convicted 
him after six minutes' deliberation. Of course the 
remaining prisoners had to consider what they 
should do. Six now remained to be tried, and 
of these five were innocent. Michael Casey, now 
suffering penal servitude in Mount joy jail, was alone 
guilty. This man offered to plead guilty, but the 
five innocent prisoners declined to plead guilty, and 
spoke out against it. The plea of guilty by Michael 
Casey was brought before George Bolton, but Uolton 
declined to receive that plea unless it was accom- 
panied by the plea of guilty by the five innocent 
men. I am making a statement of facts, all of 
which we can prove. I can prove the statement I 
have just made out of the mouth of the solicitor and 
legal advisers of the six men. A statement of 
Michael Casey with regard to the main circumstances 
of this matter, exonerating the five innocent men who 
had still to undergo their trial, admitting his own 
guilt and the guilt of two of the three who had 
already been sentenced, and alleging the innocence 
of Mylcs Joyce, whose execution was to take place 
in a few days, was put Icfore George Bolton, and 



124 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

he refused to accept Michael Casey's plea of guilty, 
and he insisted, with this knowledge, which was 
known to nobody hut himself and the legal advisers 
of the prisoners — he insisted upon forcing these five 
innocent men to stand their trial unless they pleaded 
guilty and accepted the ignominy of a conviction for 
murder and the penalty of penal servitude for life. 
Speaking as coolly as I can in reference to this raat- 
tei", I believe if ever a murderer deserved to be put 
upon his trial and sentenced to death that man is 
George Bolton. 

" What were these poor men to do ? They were at 
a distance from their homes and their friends, and 
they were strongly urged by their priest to plead 
guilty. The priest in question lias been very much 
criticized for his action, but he explains his reasons 
for advising these innocent men to plead guilty very 
fairly. The House must bear in mind that the judge 
who tried the preceding three prisoners, who had 
been ah'eady convicted, had expressed publicly an 
absolute belief in the correctness of the verdict, and 
in the truth of the evidence, and that the remaining 
five men were to be tried on absolutely the same 
evidence. What hope had they of anything but 
death in these circumstances ? They had the same 
judge ; they had, practically speaking, the same 
jurors ; at all events jurors chosen in exactly the same 
way, and from the same class of men — jurors who 
had been listening to the evidence in the preceding 
cases, and who had, undoubtedly, formed their 
opinion on it, and who had been listening to the 
declaration of the judge. Remember the prisoners 
had wives and large families depending upon them 
at home for their subsistence — they were ignorant, 
and could not speak a word of English, and they had 
to consider that while there was life there was hope 
I don't think any of us oug.ht to c mdemn either the 
men themselves who, being innocent, pleaded guilty, 
or the priest who advised to plead guilty, without, so 



CHARLES STKWABT PAKNELL. 125 

far as we can, putting ourselves absolutely in their 
place, and I must say ho would be a bold man who 
would stand up and say that if you or I had been in 
their place we would not have done exactly as they 
did. The priest says : "I argued with myself thus — 
if the men are guilty their plea of guilty would do 
them no harm ; if they are innocent the truth will 
leak out. I was by no means a believer in their 
guilt ; on the contrary, I rather believed they were 
innocent." 

"That was a candid statement ; and, although no 
doubt the priest will be found fault with by members 
of the late government for the course he took, as he 
was found fault with on the previous occasion, yet I 
should believe that the disposition to attack this 
clergyman is rather due to the fact that some chance 
of disclosing the truth and vindicating justice in re- 
ference to this matter has resulted from his action. 
Well, the prisoners pleaded guilty (one guilty man 
and four innocent men) and were sentenced to penal ser- 
vitude for life. The execution of the two guilty men 
previously convicted, and of the innocent man, Myles 
Joyce, came on. An extraordinary scene took place 
at these executions, which first directed public atten- 
tion to the probabilities of this case, but before that 
the two guilty men lying under sentence of death and 
awaiting execution, with no hoY)e before them, on the 
advice of their priest, sent for a magistrate a couple 
of days before their execution and made dying dec- 
larations which we have never been able to obtain. 

"We know the nature of these declarations, but no 
thanks to the late government. They used all the 
resources of subtlety which lay at their command in 
their replies to the questions which were put by my 
honorable friends in regard to this matter. They at- 
tempted to drag a red herring across the path and 
throw dust in our eyes. Fortunately they have not 
succeeded, and we now know as a matter of fact, al- 
though the present government have followed the 



126 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

wretched example of their predecessors and have re- 
fused to produce the declarations, that the dyiug dec- 
larations of these two guilty men contained an ad- 
mission of their own guilt, and an avowal of the in- 
nocence of Myles Joyce. They contained an admis- 
sion of the guilt of all the men whose guilt we 
acknowledge, and an avowal of the innocence of all 
the men whose innocence we assert. That you deny; 
but you can only deny it at the cost of producing the 
declarations." 

The government's promise to institute an inquiry 
into these cases was everywhere regarded, by friend 
and foe alike, as a substantial victory for Mr. Parnell. 
Outside of a few well-informed individuals nobody 
had expected that the government would yield. It 
was against all precedent and entirely contrary to 
British prejudices to allow the acts of a former gov- 
ernment to be inquii'ed into at the instance of Irish 
malcontents, and, in conceding so much, Lord Salis- 
bury's government proved that it estimated the sup- 
port of the Parnellites as essential to its own reten- 
tion of power, and that it was willing to go to ex- 
treme lengths to obtain and hold that support. 



CHAPTER XX. 

lEISH LEGISLATION" IX THE SESSION OF 1885 — THE 
ELEVATION OF DK. WALSH TO THE ARCHBISHOPRIC 

OF DUBLIN — THE DISSOLUTION OP PARLIAMENT 

PREPARATIONS FOR THE GENERAL ELECTIONS — 
HOW THEY RESULTED. 

The Parliament of 1885 was prorogued on August 
14, and in her speech the Queen gave notice of her 
purpose before long to seek the counsel of the en- 
larged electorate by a dissolution of Parliament. 

The principal legislation of the year, with which 
Ireland had any concern, was the Redistribution of 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 127 

Seats b'll, the amendment of the Irish Registration 
law and the Land Purchase bill. 

The Redistribution of Seats bill was brought for- 
ward and passed by the Gladstone government. It 
completely recor.atructed the existing system of par- 
liamentary representation in the United Kingdom 
and abolished twenty of the Irish constituencies, 
principally in the boroughs, but the representation in 
some of the counties and large boroughs like Dublin, 
Belfast and Cork was increased so largely under the 
bill that the loss was made up again and Ireland was 
left her full complement of 103 members. 

The amendment to the Irish Registration law was 
made under ui'gent pressure from the Parnellites, and 
it not only assimilated the law in all its beneficial fea- 
tures to the English law, but it made it even better 
than the English law, by reason of the non-disquali- 
fication of persons who had received medical relief. 

The Land Purchase bill was introduced by tlie 
Salisbury government and provided for the creation 
of a peasant proprietary class in Ireland by the advance 
by government of three-fourths of the purchase 
money, at 4 per cent, interest for 49 years, to persons 
wanting to buy land. Where needed the whole of 
the purchase money would be advanced on conditions 
which would not expose the government to any risk 
or loss. The Irish Church Surplus was to be utilized 
for the purposes of the bill. The bill also provided 
for the creation of a cheap and simple form for the 
conveyance of land. It was to be administered by 
the existing land commission, reinf oi-ced by two com- 
missioners. This measure was a step in the right 
direction, but a very small one, and although the 
Irish members acquiesced in its passage, they did not 
do so heartily, but regarded the bill rather with dvu- 
trust. 

These were the chief measures having to do with 
Ireland carried through the Parliament in 1885, and 
it must be said that they were not in themseves of 



128 LIFE AXD SEEVicr:s OF 

such weight as to bo caloulatod to very materially 
advance the intiTCPts of Ireland or in any great de- 
gree improve the condition of her people ; still there 
was in them considerable to be thankful for : The 
Redistribution bill left Ireland her full representa- 
tion ; t^e Registration law made it easier for the 
Nationalists to develop their political sti'ength, and 
the Land Purchase bill, used cautiously, would result, 
undoubtedly, in ultimate good. 

In Ireland an event of the year which attracted 
wide attention and occasioned great rejoicing was 
the elevation of the Yery Rev. Dr. William Walsh 
from the presidency of Maynooth College to the 
Archbishopric of Dublin as the successor of the late 
Cardinal McCabe, Dr. Walsh was the choice of the 
great majority of the Irish bishops, priests and people, 
but strong agencies worked against him because of 
his well known NationaliNtic sympathies. His immedi- 
ate predecessors in the See of Duldin had been men 
whose political views were such as to make them wel- 
come visitors at the Castle, and they had exercised all 
tbeir influence to suppress the N.itional pro])ensities of 
the priests under their episcopal control. England now 
wanted a man of the same stamp, and as Dr. Walsh 
was not such a man, the government used all its in- 
fluence to prevent his appointment. The notorious 
George Errington, M. P. for Longford, was sent to 
Rome to persuade or intimidate the Pope into set- 
ting aside the choice of the Irish people, but his mis- 
sion was, happily, in vain. The Pope preferred the 
fact that the canons and parish priests had voted Dr. 
Walsh "most worthy" to be selected permanently 
to fill the chair of the Metropolitan See, and he ac- 
cordingly appointed him, gratifying by the act the 
desire of a vast majority of the Irish people, clerical 
and l;iy. 

The selection of Dr. Walsh had a great moral effect 
in Irelrnd and served to greatly encourage the Ka- 
tional cause. In the meantime Mr. Pavnell and his 



CHARLES STEAVAET PAENELL, 129 

lieutenants were not idle. Since the prorogation of 
Parliament they had been incessantly at work infus- 
ing new enthusiasm into the people, perfecting the 
organization of the National League and Inboring 
assiduously to secure a full registration of the Nation- 
alist vote, and as a result of their labors the move- 
ment was brought up to a higher degree of discipline 
than ever before. 

The general elections were to be held in Novem- 
ber, and the outlook before the Nationalists had never 
been so bright. It was all but certain that they 
would elect more than 80 out of Ireland's 103 mem- 
bers. Mr. Parnell had a scheme for the payment of 
the Nationalist membeis from a fund to be subscribed 
fur the purpose by the Irish people all over the world, 
and that the scheme would be successful was assured 
by the re[)or[8 of subsciiptions in America alone. 
Under this prospect there was no dearth of candi- 
dates, and a difficulty which presented itself was the 
selection of the most suitable men. But this difficulty 
was skilfully overcome. Conventions of delegates 
fi-ora the National League and the Catholic clergy 
were held in the different counties rnd attended by 
Mr. Parnell, Mr. Sexton, or some other of the Nation- 
alist leaders, and in every instance the candidates 
who were indorsed by Mr. Parnell were decided upon 
almost without friction or dissent. All the candidates 
were required to subscribe to a pledge drawn up by 
Mr. Parnell. This pledge was designed to ensure 
the unity of the new parliamentary party beyond 
doubt or cavil, and was as follows : 

" I pledge myself that, in the event of ray election 
to Paiiiament, I will sit, act and vote with the Irish 
Parliamentary Party; and if at a meeting of the 
party,, convened upon due notice specially to con- 
sider the question, it be determined by a resolution, 
supported by a majority of the entire Parliamentary 
Pnrty, that I have not fulfilled the above pledge, I 
hereby undertake forthwith to resign my sent." 



130 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

This pledge was presented to each of the National- 
ist candidates upon his nomination by the conven- 
tions, and in eveiy instance it was signed without de- 
mur. The holding of conventions for the nomina- 
tion of candidates v»^as a new idea in Ireland, never 
having been tried before, but it proved very succes?- 
f ul in practice, and the harmony which characterized 
the deliberations of the conventions, as well as the 
happy results which invariably attended them, bore 
additional testimony to the tact and sagacity of Mr, 
Parnell who introduced them. 

On Nov. 18 the Queen dissolved Parliament by 
proclamation, and almost immediately the writs be- 
gan to issue for elections to a new Parliament. 
These elections were to be held upon the basis of the 
enlarged electorate created by Mr. Gladstone's re- 
form bill, and it was generally supposed that upon 
this basis the Liberal party, being the party w^hich 
had conferred the right of suffrage on the new voters, 
would have a decided advantage. This was especi- 
ally true of the county constituencies, where it was 
expected that by far the larger number of the new 
voters would pronounce in favor of the Liberals. 
Should they do so, and should Mr. Gladstone succeed 
in retaining anything like his former strength among 
the old voters, which it was probable he would, it 
was plain that the Liberal party would be returned 
with a majority so overwhelming as to make its 
leaders indifferent even to the increased Nationalist 
vote. Mr. Parnell foresaw this, and with that po- 
litical sagacity which was never made more apparent 
than in the masterly manner in which he laid his 
plans for this campaign, he set about preventing such 
a result. In order that the Nationalist programme 
might be successful it was desirable, if not necessary, 
that the Pamellites should hold the balance of power 
in the next Parliament, and that this might be the 
case the Liberals and Tories must be returned in 
equal, or nearly equal numbers. This was the object 



CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 131 

which Mr. Parnell had to accomplish. He must 
weaken the Liberal and increase the Tory strength in 
Great Britnin. To effect this he advised the execu- 
tive of the Irish National League of Great Britain to 
issue a manifesto to the Irish voters of England and 
Scotland, calling upon them to support the Tory 
candidates i-n preference to Liberals or Radicals 
(though exceptions were made in favor of men like 
He-iry Laboiichere and Joseph Cowen). The Nation- 
alists in England and Scotland were magnificently 
organized, and their power was used with dramatic 
effect. The enormous advantage of the Liberals 
from the 2,000,000 new vote is was stayed and 
counteracted by the Irish voting solidly for the 
Tories. To this action the Liberals owed a loss and 
the Tories again of at least 40 members. 

In Ireland the elections were a continuous series of 
triumphs for the Nationalists. Their majorities com- 
pi-ised liteially the whole voting list of many places. 
In the toial vote cast in Ireland they had an over- 
whelming majority. The Liberals were completely 
wiped out in Ireland. At the elections of ISSO they 
returned 44 members, but at this election, they did not 
even return a man. The Tory stiength was also con- 
siderably reduced. In 1880 the T' lies elected 24 
members but at this election they only returned ] 8 
out of Ireland's 103, and these were all in Ulster. 
The Nationalists won the other 85 seats, and, T. P. 
O'Connor having been elected for Liverpool, their 
total stength in the next Parliament will be 8 >. 
The following is a list of the Nationalist members 
elected : 

ABRAHAM, W., West Limerick. 
BARRY, JOHN, South Wexford. 
BLANE, ALEX., Suuih Armagh. 
BIGGAR, JOS. G., East Cavan. 
BYRNE, GARRETT, West Wicklow. 
CAMPBELL, HENRY, South Fernxiiuagh.. 



132 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

CAREW, J. L., North Kildare. 

CHANCE, P. A., South Kilkenny. 

CLANCY, J. J., North Dublin. 

COMMINS, Dr., North Roscommon. 

CONDON, THOMAS J., East Tipperary. 

CONNOLLY, J., South Longford. 

CONWAY, M., North Leitrim. 

CORBET, W. J., East Wicklow. 

COX, J. E., East Clare^ 

CRILLY, DANIEL, North Mayo. 

DEASY, J., West Mayo. 

DILLON, J., East Mayo. 

ESMONDS, Sir T. H. G., South Dublin. 

FINUCANE, J., East Limerick. 

FLYNN, J. C, North Cork. 

FOLEY, P. J., West Galway. 

FOX, Dr., Tullamore, Kings County. 

GILHOOLY, J., West Cork. 

GILL, H. J., Limerick City. 

GILL, T. P., South Louth. 

GRAY, E. D., St. Stephen's Division, Dublin City 

and Carlow County. 
HARRINGTON, ED., West Kerry. 
HARRINGTON, T., Harbor Division, Dublin 

City. 
HARRIS, M., East Gal way. 
HAYDEN, L. P., South Leitrim. 
HEALY,^[., Cork City. 

HEALY, i\ M., North Monaghan and South Dcrry. 
HOOPER, J., South-East Cork. 
JORDAN, JER.,'West Clare. 
KELLY, B., South Donegal. 
KELLY, M., Mid-Tyrone. 
KENNY, Dr., South Cork. 
LALOR, R., Leix Division, Queens County. 
LANE, WM. J., East Cork. 
LEAHY, J., South Kildare. 
LEAMY, E., No"th-Enst Cork. 
McCARTRY, J., North Longford 



CHARLES STEWAET PARNELL. 133 

McCarthy, J. H., Newry. 

McDonald, p., North Sligo. 

McKENNA, Sir J. N., South Monaghan. 

MARUM, E. M., North Kilkenny. 

MAYNE, THOS., Middle Tipperary. 

MOLLOY, B. C, Birr, Kings County. 

MURPHY, W., St. Patrick's Division, Dublin 

City. 
NOLAN, Col., North Galway. 
NOLAN, J., North Louth. 
O'BRIEN, J. F. X., South Mayo. ' 
O'BRIEN, P. J., North Tipperary. 
O'BRIEN, WM., South Tyrone. 
O'CONNOR, ARTHUR, Ossory Division, Queens 

County and East Donegal. 
O'CONNOR, JOHN, South Kerry. 
O'CONNOR, JOHN, East Tipperary. 
O'CONNOR, T. P., Galway City and Livei-pool. 
O'DOHERTY, J. E., North Donegal. 
O'DOHERTY, K. L, North Meath. 
O'HANLON, THOS., West Cavan. 
O'HEA, P., West Donegal. 
O'KELLY, J. J., South Roscommon. 
PARNELL, C. S., Cork City. 
POWER, P. J., East Waterford. 
POWER, R., Waterford City. 
PYNE, J. D., West Waterford. 
REDMOND, J. E., North Wexford. 
REDMOND, W. H. K., North Fermanagh. 
REYNOLDS, W. J., East Tyrone. 
SEXTON, THOS., South Sligo. 
SHEEHAN, J. D., East Kerry. 
SHEEHY, DAVID, South Galway. 
SHEIL, ED., South Meath. 
SMALL, J. F., South Down. 
SMITHWICK, T. F., Kilkenny City. 
STACK, JOHN, North Kerry. 
SULLIVAN, D., South Wcstmeath. 
SULLIVAN, T. D., College Green Division, Dublin, 



134 LIFE AND SERVICES OP 

TANNER, Dr. C, Mid Cork. 
TUITE, J., North Westmeath. 

The above list contains 82 names, but as four of 
them, viz., T. M. Healy, Arthur O'Connor, T. P. 
O'Connor, and Ed. D. Gray, have been returned each 
for two constituencies, and as they can hold but one 
seat each, and new elections must be held for the 
seats vacated, the full strength of the Irish party 
after those four elections have taken place will be 86. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE PROSPECT FOR HOME RULE — THE POLICY OF THE 
NEW IRISH PARTY. 

The result of the elections virtually made Mr. Par- 
nell the master of the situation. A Parnellite and 
Tory coalition would have a small majority over the 
Liberals and would be able to continue Lord Salis- 
bury in power, but in return for his assistance the 
Irish leader would certainly exact a full recognition 
of the claims of Ireland. Should Lord Salisbury re- 
fuse such terms, Mr. Parnell would have it in his 
power to depose him almost at will. The probability 
is, however, that the Tories will not be able to carry 
a Home Rule scheme through Parliament on account 
of the opposition of the Ulster Tories, who threaten 
to desert their party should its leaders make any 
compromise with Mr. Parnell, but Mr. Parnell is not 
dependent solely on the Tories. Mr. Gladstone has 
already made advances to him, audit is not improba- 
ble that the Liberals and Parnellites will form a com- 
bination by which Mr. Gladstone will again take up 
the reins of government, the consideration being a 
comprehensive measure of Home Rule for Ireland. 
With Mr. Parnell's aid the Liberals would have an 
immense majority and they could easily carry such a 



CHAELKS RTEWAKT PAKNELL. 135 

measure througli Parliament. If they refuse Ire- 
land's demands tliej are doomed. Mr. Gladstone 
never had such an opportunity to show himself a 
a great statesman. It remains to be seen whether he 
will profit by the opportunity and win for his party 
power and renown, or neglect it and allow his oppo- 
nents to profit by it. 

In any event it is certain that with the votes of 
eighty-six members at his command, Mr. Parnell can 
compel the concession of Home Rule or can depose 
the government at his pleasure. And, under the 
present method of electing and continuing govei'fl- 
ments in ofiice in England, every succeeding govern- 
ment will be equally at his mercy. The question, 
therefore, will resolve itself into this: Home Rule for 
Ireland, or a revolution in the forms and traditions of 
government in England. When confronted by such 
an alternative English ministers will hardly hesitate 
to grant to Ireland the boon she craves. 

And even should Mr. Parnell not hold the balance 
of power in future Parliaments — should the Liberals, 
after another dissolution, be returned by so large a 
majority as to outnumber the Conservatives and 
Nationalists together — the Irish leader will still have 
a large and effective working force and can assuredly 
accomplish much for Ireland. Mr. Gladstone was 
elected to the last Parliament with a majority of 
more than one hundred over tlie Conservatives and a 
clear and decided majority over the united vote of 
the Conservatives and Parnellites, and yet Mr. Par- 
nell with only thirty-eight — and sometimes less — fol- 
lowers, was able to compel legislation which he 
wanted; to prevent much of that which he did not 
want, and in the end to hurl a tyrannical government 
from power altogether. If he was able to accom- 
plish so much with Ipss than forty followers, what 
will he not be able to do with eighty-six? 

But the policy of the new party will not be hasty 
or ill-advised. Its lines are marked out and will be 



136 LIFE AND SERVICES OP 

followed closely, but Mr. Parnell will not jeopardize 
his chances ot' ultimate success by undue precipita- 
tion. He will be patieut and watchful and discreet, 
as he has ever been, and when his opportunity comes 
he will be ready to lake advantage of it. That his 
policy would be one of caution he intimated at the 
dinner given in London, on July 23, 1885, in honor 
of Hon. Patrick A, Collins of Boston, Mass., ex-presi- 
dent of the Land League in America. In his sj)eech 
on this occasion Mr. Parnell said : 

"It is for those at home, for the man who is riding 
the horse to judge as to whether the fence shall be 
rushed or taken slowly, and being to some extent 
myself in the position of jockey, I won't say a suit- 
able one, but as the rider at the present moment I 
desire to give my own oiDinion to-night, that the situa- 
tion in Ireland, just at present, at all events, demands 
cautious riding and that we may, perhaps, find that we 
shall have got over the fence without a fall if we put 
our steed slowly at it upon the present occasion ; 
and I am sure that those of my colleagues who know 
my own disposition will agree with me that none of 
us would for a single moment shrink from rushing 
the fence if we thought that the safety or success of 
our steed or of our country could be best secured in 
that way. We have had some projects mooted dur- 
ing the last few days for the revival of a movement 
upon the lines of the Land League. Speaking for 
myself, and without consulting with my colleagues, 
as one who has never shrunk from any risk, from any 
sacrifice in the times of the Land League, as one who 
may be wilUng to go much further than any of us 
went in the times of the Land League if the occa- 
sion required, and who does not feel himself less 
eager than he felt himself five years ago when he 
shook General Collins by the hand at Boston, Mass., 
I will say that I consider that our movement of this 
winter should be one distinguished by its judgment, 
its prudence, and its moderation that public men, and 



CHARLES STEWAUT PAENELL. 137 

that public speakers should carefully scnitinize be- 
forehand their every word and their every action, 
tliat we should advise our fellow countrymen against 
being carried away by any excess, and against any 
immoderation, and that while sometimes it is wise to 
strike hard, it is also sometimes wise to remem- 
ber the motto, ^/<25;'ma lente, and that I consider that 
those counsellors will be the best and the wisest who 
will, during the next few months, urge upon our peo- 
ple at home the exercise of great caution and pru- 
dence in their actions, lest unhappily, by too great 
elation at the extraordinary turn that events have 
taken in favor of our country they should mar what 
would otherwise most undoubtedly be the speedy 
fruition of our hopes as a nation, and the speedy con- 
quest of those rights in the land of Ireland which we 
have fought for and struggled for during so many 
years." 

Caution is a characteristic of Mr. Parnell's,but it is 
such caution as is possessed by the best and the 
bravest generals. He wisely a^'oids risks when the 
probabilities are against success, but when the 
chances are favorable he strikes with the decisive 
force of a master mind. He has always counseled 
moderation, but I think that an impartial study of 
his career will show that it was from motives of pru- 
dence, not principle. He believes heartily in the 
maxim "Ireland for the Irish," but his policy has 
been — in the words of T. D. Sullivan, M. P. — to 
"take all he could get — and then go for the remain- 
der," and events have shown that his policy was a 
wise one. 

Like O'Connell Parnell can say that he is "an agi- 
tator with an ulterior object," and that object the Na- 
tional independence of Ireland. Indeed, he said this 
in his speech at the banquet in his honor given by the 
Parliamentary party in Dublin on August 24. In re- 
plying to tlie toast to his health on this occasion Mi*. 
Parnell said : 



138 LIFE AND SERVICES OF 

" I feel convinced that I interpret your sentiments 
best and most fully, as I certainly express ray own, 
when I say that each and all of us have only looked 
upon the acts — the legislative enactments which we 
have been able to wring from an unwilling Parlia- 
ment — as means towards an end, that we would have 
at any time in the hours of our deepest depression 
and greatest discouragement, spurned and rejected 
any measure, however tempting, and however appar- 
ent for the benefit of our people — if we had been 
able to detect that behind it lurked any danger to the 
legislative independence of our land. And although 
during this Parliament, which has just expired, we 
may have said very little about Ilumc Rule — very 
little was said about legislative independence — very 
little about repeal of the Union — yet 1 know well 
that through each of your hearts the thought of how 
those great things might be best forwarded was 
never for a moment absent and that no body of Irish- 
men ever met together who have more consistently 
worked, and woi-ked with a greater effect for that 
which always must be the hope of our nation until 
its realization arrives. We might, I say, refer to 
those legislative achievements. We might refer to 
the Land Act, an admirable measure in its way, even 
an unthought-of measure since many of us have come 
into political life. We might refer to the Arrears 
Act. We might dwell on the Franchise Act, under 
which almost manhood suffrage has been conceded to 
Ireland. We might recall to our recollection the Re- 
distribution Act, under which, despite the open hos- 
tility of one party and the hardly-concealed envy of 
the other, we succeeded in getting in the new Parlia- 
ment the full rejiresentation of Ireland without the 
loss of a single man. But these things, although im- 
portant in themselves, are not, as I have said, the end 
and aim of our existence as a party ; and although we 
connot refuse, and never have refused — although we 
have always, and wisely, I think, made it part of our 



CIIARI.Ti:S STEWAKT PAENELL. 139 

programme to gain for Ireland such concessions as 
might be got at the while, provided we did not sacri- 
fice greater and more enduring national interests, yet 
"we have always got before us that we were sent from 
this country, not to remain long in Westminster but 
to remember that it was for us to look upon our 
presence there as a voluntary one, and to regard our 
future, our legislative future, as belonging to our own 
native country of Ireland. 

Referring to the services of the Irish Nationalist 
members, Mr. Parnell said: "I can only say as regards 
myself that those services have been my constant 
admiration ; that I have marvelled that it was pos- 
sible for any nation, for any country, to get together 
such a body of men under any circumstances ; but 
that it should have been possible for Ireland in her 
position, with all her talent, her supposed best talent, 
divorced from her, with the ten-ible engines and 
means which have been used to terrify, to cajole, and 
to persuade her sons to enlist under another flag than 
her own — it is a marvel to me, it seems to me that it 
must have been a dispensation of Providence that it 
could have been possible for our country to have 
found such sons and to have been served as she has 
been served during the five years of the Parliament 
of 1881 to 1885. And what is our present position? 
It is admitted by all parties that you have brought 
the question of Irish Legislative Independence to the 
point of solution. It is not now a question of 
self-government for Ireland, it is only a question as 
to how much of the self-government they will be 
able to cheat us out of. It is not now a question of 
whether the Irish people shall decide their own des- 
tinies and their own future, but it is a question with, 
I was going to say our English masters, but I am 
afraid we cannot call them masters in Ireland — it is a 
question w^ith them as to how far the day — that they 
consider the evil day — shall be deferred." 

On this occasion also, he laid it down as a princi- 



140 LIFE AND STIEVICES OP 

pie that the Irish party in future would ha/e a pro- 
gi-amme with only one plank, and that one the plank 
of National independence, and that all its efforts 
and all its energies should be directed to secure that 
end. 

Will he succeed ? Mr. Parnell himself, than whom 
no statesman of modern times has more conspicuously 
shown tlie possession of tact, ability, sound judg- 
ment and unerring political foresight, firmly believes 
that he will ; the whole Irish people at home and 
abroad hope and pray that victory may crown his 
labors, and even his enemies admit that the issue of 
his efforts will more than probably be a triumphant 
one. But I leave the answer to the question to time, 
confident that it will vindicate Mr. Parnell's pledges 
and justify me in classifying him above all previous 
Irish popular leaders and statesmen, not only for 
what he has done, but for what he has made it possi- 
ble to do, and for the glorious hope which his won- 
derful successes has awakened in the hearts of his 
countrymen, that after seven centuries spent in the 
darkness of bondage, the Sun of National Independ- 
ence — and its inevitable concomitant, National Pros- 
perity — is at last about to dawn upon " dear Old 
Ireland." 



THE END. 



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jes hav'e been sold, and it has broken up many swindles. It is highly in- 
teresting, as well as valuable. If you haven't read it, don't fail to do 
so. Illustrated 25 cts 

Royal Society Dra'wing Book.— This book took the prize 

offered for the best by the London Society of Arts. It advances the 
learner radidly, at the same time making him thorough in all he learns. 
It is adapted to self -instruction or use in classes. It has the quickest 
and best methods, clearly presented. Its instructions are exact and 
always to the point, and so clear that the learner cannot go astray. It 
is profusely illustrated, covering the whole ground of Freehand Out- 
line from Outline or from the Flat, Free-hand Outline from Objects or 
from the Round, and Practice of Free-hand Outline from Solids and 
Real Objects. If you want to learn drawing understandingly and cor- 
rectly as well as rapidly, this is the proper guide , 50 cts. 

Scene Painting and Painting in Distemper,— This 

work gives not only full instructions in the preparation of the colors, 
drawing for scene painters, stage settings, but also useful informaiion 
regarding stage appliances and efifects. It has numerous illustrative 
diagrams and engravings gl Oil 

Secrets Worth Knowing.— A guide to the manufacture 
of hundreds of useful and salable articles, including patent medicines, 
pei-fumery, toilet, and dental articles, and many others easily made at 
trifling cost, selling readily at large profit. A single article may afford 
livelihood to person making and introducing to the public; storekeep- 
ers, agents, and others can make a line of salable goods and make 
money in any community 25 cts. 

FXCELSIOR PUBLISHING HOUSE, 23 &. 31 Beekman St,, New York. T.Y. 
P. O. Co:; 11 :i. 



New and Popular Books sent Free of Postage at Prices Annexed. 

Art of Training Animals.— A complete guide for ama- 
teur or professional trainers, giving all the secrets and mysteries of 
the craft, and showing how all circus tricks, and all feats of all per- 
forming animals — from elephants to fleas— are accomplished. It also 
has an improved system of horse and colt breaking, breaking and 
training sporting dogs, care and tuition of song, talking, and perform- 
ing birds, snake charming, bee taming, and many other things, making 
a large, handsome volume of over 200 pages aiid 60 illustrations. It 
would take a page of this catalogue merely to mention what the book 
contains Every farmer and animal-owner will find this book valuable, 
and every boy who has dogs or other pets will find it a source of 
endless amusement. One gentleman writes us that his boys have 
organized quite a circus with their pets, who have been taught 
amusing and wonderful tricks from our book, and be proposes get- 
ting them a little tent. Remember this book at the holidays, It is a 
good present . ...50cts. 

(An edition embracing also The Horsgshoer's Manual and Youatt's 
Treatise on Diseases of the Horse's Foot, in one handsome cloth-bound 
volume, at $1.00.) 

Art of Wood Engraving,— A practical instructor by 

which any one can learn a good trade. Many young ladies have had 
gratifying success, and executed very creditable and prufltable work 
after a few months practice. Profusely illustrated .25 cts. 

Artist's Manual.— A practical guide to Oil and Water- 
Color Painting, Crayon Drawing, etc. By James Beard and other emi' 
nent artists. Now that so many are taking up art studies, this book 
meets a want which can be filled by no other single volume. It is very 
clear, full, and explicit, and teaches the best methods. Mr. Beard is 
widely and favorably known as an artist and writer, and his book may 
therefore be relied upon. It gives the able and conscientious aid of an 
expert, hence is peculiarly helpful. Illustrated 50 cts. 



Bad Memory Made Good, and Good Made Better.— Shows 

how a wonderful power of memory may be acquired by a simple art, 
readily, and enables its pcssessor to achieve feats incomprehensible to 
those ignorant of the secret. It will be of great assistance to teachers, 
pupils, and professional men generally. Clergymen and speakers will 
save much time by its chapter on Speaking: without Notes ; students 
preparing for examination will be greatly aided . .15 cts. 

Baker's Manual. — This is a practical instructor in all 
branches of the business, including American, French, and German 
styles of work, pastry, cake, and various kinds of bread, biscuit, etc. 
It gives many novelties whose recipes are sold at high prices, and any 
baker will find it pay him to get this book, A good idea of the real 
value of this book is given by the fact that the only similar work, 
scarcely as large, has been selling to the trade for $b a copy. Any in- 
telligent cook can make the most palatable and attractive articles with 
the aid of our plain and si mi >le directions. Special attention is directed 
to the line of fashionai>le cakes and pastries. The breadmaking in- 
struction is also very reliable and covers every variety 50 cts. 

EXCELSIOR PUBLISHING HOUSE, 29 & 31 Beekman St., New York, N.Y, 
P O Box 1144. 



German at a Glance. 

A new system, on the most simple principles, foi 
Universal Self-Tuition, with English pronunciation of 
every word. By this system any person can become pro- 
ficient in the German language in a very short time. It 
is the most complete and easy method ever published. By 
Eranz Thimm. (Revised Edition.) 

Bound in paper cover, . - - price 25c. 
Bound in boardSj with cloth back, - price 35c. 

French at a Glance. 

Uniforai and arranged the same as " German at a 
Glance," being the most thorough and easy system for 
Self-Tuition. (Revised Edition.) 

Bound in paper cover, _ . - price 25c. 
Eiound in boards, cloth bacl(, - - price 35c. 

Spanish at a Glance. 

A new system for Self-Tuition, arranged the same 
as French and German, being the easiest method of ac- 
quiring' a thorough knowledge of the Spanish language. 
(Revised Edition.) 

Bound in paper cover, - - - price 25c. 
Bound in boards, cloth bacic, ■ - price 35c. 

Italian at a Glance. 

Uniform in size and style with German, French, and 
Bpanlsh, being the most simple method of learning the 
Italian language. (Revised Edition.) 

bou«, I in paper cover, - - - price 25c. 

Bound in ^ioards, cloth bacIc, - - price 35c. 



B'U sale by all Booksellers or will be sent, postpaid, on receipt of price. 

EXCELSIOR PUBLISHING HOUSE, 
, i?, O. Bo-K 1144, 2^ and 31 Beekman St., New York, N. Y« 



NEW AND STANDARD BOOKS 




'DJii!^maii(lliclloa 



Alphabets, Ornamental and Fancy. Geo. E. Woodward. 4to 

Artistic Drawing Studies. Geo. E. Woodward. Quarto 

Breechloader, The. By "Gloan." Illustrated 

Copley's Aljihabets. Plain and Ornamental 

Crack Shot (The Rifle). By E. C. Barber. Illustrated 

Dead Shot (The Gun). By "Marksman." Illustrated 

Dog. The. By Duiks. Mayhew, and Hutchinson 

Elliott's Lawn and Shade Trees. Illustrated 

Eveleth's School-House Architecture. Quarto 

Fishing in American Waters. By Genio C. Scott. 200 Illustrations. . . 

Flax Culture. Paper 

Frank Foresters American Game. Illustrated 

Frank Forester's Field Sports. 2 vols. Illustrated 

Frank Forester's Fish and Fishing. 100 Illustrations 

Frank Forester's Horse of America. 2 vols , 8vo 

Frank Forester's Young Sportsman's Blanual. Illustrated 

Fuller's Fore t Tree Cultnrist. Fully Illustrated 

Gun, Rod. and Saddle. II ustrated 

Harney's Barns, Outbuildings, and Fences 

Hoise Portraiture- Breeding and Training Trotters, etc 

How to (iet a Fa"m and Where to Find One 

Husmann's Gra{)es and Wine. Illustrated 

Hus ey's National Cottage Architecture. Quarto 

Jacques' Garden, Farm, and Barn-yard r. 

Jacques' Manual '-t the Hoise. 126 Designs 

Lewis' Practical Poultry Book. 100 Illustrations 

Miner's Domestic Poultry Book. Illustrated 

Monckton's National Carpentf>r and Joiner. Quarto 

Monckton's National Stair-Builder. Quarto 

Our Farm of Four Acres. 12nio 

Phin's Open- Air Grape Culture. New edition 

Randall's Practical Shepherd. New edition. Illustrated 

Rural Church Ar hitecture. 20 Designs 

Ten Acres Enough. New edition. Illustrated. 

Thomery System of Grape Culture. Flc xible cloth 

Todd's Young Farmer's Manual. 3 vols Per set, 

Vol. 1. The Farm and Workshop 

Vol. 8. How to Blake Farming Pay 

Vol. 3. Wheat Culture 

Trout Culture. By J. H. Slack, M.D 

Wallace's American Stud Book. 1,000 pages, 8vo 

Wallace's American Trotting Register. 8vo 

Wheeler's Homes for the People. Fully Illustrated 

Wheeler's Riiral Homes. Fully Illustrated :.. 

Willard's Practical Butter Book. Illustrated 

Willard's Practical Dairy Husbandry. Illustrated 

Woodward's Cottages aiid Farm-Houses. 188 Designs and Plans 

Woodward's Country Homes. 150 Designs and Plans 

Woodward's Designs for the Fret Saw 

Woodward's Graperies and Horticultural Buildings 

Woodward's National Architect. Vol.1. 100 Designs 

Woodward's National Architect. Vol. 2. 100 Quarto Plates 

Woodward's Suburban and Country Houses^ 70 Designs and Plans . . 

Any of the above books sent postpaid on receipt of price. 

EXCELSIOR PUBLISHING HOUSE, 

29 and 31 Beekman Street, New York, N. Y. 



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